Group E Review - Gritty France down Belarus, USA and Aussies win

OSTRAVA (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) - Undefeated Australia and the United States stormed to convincing wins and France also tasted victory on the first day of Eight-Finals action at the FIBA World Championship for Women.

France survived in an extremely physical battle with Belarus. Les Bleues, who beat Belarus in the EuroBasket Women Semi-Finals last year on their  way to the title, prevailed 58-48 on Monday night.

Pierre Vincent's side won for the third time in four games.

Trailing 37-32, the French went on a 10-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to take the lead for good.

Endene Miyem scored four points in the spurt, including the go-ahead jumper at the beginning of the final frame.

The 22-year-old forward, who plays for France boss Vincent at Bourges, led the team with 14 points while Celine Dumerc scored 13 and also came up with a game-high six steals - three during the game-winning run.

"We knew that the game against Belarus would be difficult," Vincent said.

"It was one of the key games in this phase of the tournament. Tonight we had a super Dumerc.

"I pushed her to have more responsibility and she obliged.

"We played smart on defense and that was the crucial point of the game."

The victory has continued a very impressive run for the French, who arrived in Ostrava without injured trio Sandrine Gruda, Isabelle Yacoubou and Emilie Gomis - three very important players in last year's gold-medal winning side.

Vincent is getting great performances from the likes of guard Florence Lepron, who had nine points and seven rebounds.

The coach has done a good job of not allowing his players be concerned about the absent players.

"We have to be focused on the fact that we are here, and focus on our strengths," he said.

There seems to be no shortage of determination in Vincent's players.

"When you have this kind of feeling," he said, "we showed we can move mountains."

Australia remained undefeated by winning 93-54 over Greece.

Carrie Graf's team stormed into a 21-5 lead five minutes into the game and had a 56-24 stranglehold by half-time.

Greece had no answers for the superior size of the Opals, with the Australian frontcourt duo of Lauren Jackson and Liz Cambage each scoring 20 points.

Jackson also had a game-high 12 rebounds.

Australia neutralized the threat of Evina Maltsi, limiting Greece leading scorer to nine points.

"I think we did a good job with that," Graf said.

Australia will now take on France while Greece will face Canada.

"We played against one of the best teams in the world," Greece’s Stella Kaltsidou said.

"It was the first time we've had that kind of experience."

The United States won 87-46 over Canada.

The Canadians matched their FIBA Americas rivals blow for blow for much of the first quarter but eventually fell away and trailed 47-25 at half-time when USA coach Geno Auriemma inserted his second team.

"I like that second group," he said.

"I thought about changing the starting lineup today as those guys are stuck in the mud.

"You've got some high energy guys like Lindsay (Whalen), Angel (McCoughtry) and Maya (Moore) as well."

"Tina (Charles) gave us a great burst at the beginning of the second quarter."

Charles had nine points to lead all scorers at half-time while Whalen had eight, Swin Cash seven and McCoughtry and Dupree six each.

The USA blew the game wide open in the third quarter and led 66-38.

Ostrava is already buzzing about Wednesday's showdown between the United States and Australia.

"I think we're all very excited," United States guard Sue Bird said.

"(But) We don't want to jump ahead.

"We still have Belarus (on Tuesday) and want to take care of that first."

Group E games live on FIBATV.com September 28th:

Canada vs. Greece - 13.30 GMT - Live on FIBATV.com
Australia vs. France - 16.00 GMT - Live on FIBATV.com
Belarus vs. USA - 18.15 GMT - Live on FIBATV.com

FIBA