Copy Cats Belgium make the Quarter-Finals again after best ever run
SYDNEY (Australia) - After making the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup Semi-Finals on their 2018 debut, the Belgian Cats are eyeing up a repeat after making the Quarter-Finals in Sydney.
"It feels good because sometimes I think that we forget that we're small Belgium and that is only our second Women's World Cup. I think it's something we can be proud of."
They booked their spot with a commanding 85-55 success against Bosnia and Herzegovina as they also won three games in a row in the competition for the first time in their short history.
Having lost their opener against USA, they followed up victories against Korea and Puerto Rico by brushing aside their European rivals thanks mainly to Hind Ben Abdelkader and Kyara Linskens. The former fired 18 points and Linskens returned 13 points and 7 rebounds. Meanwhile Julie Allemand also handed out 9 assists.
This is the second Quarter-Finals appearance in as many Women's World Cup appearances for Belgium an impressive accomplishment that is not lost upon one of the team's leader Julie Allemand.
"It feels good because sometimes I think that we forget that we're small Belgium and that is only our second Women's World Cup. I think it's something we can be proud of. Sometimes it's like 'Oh, this is normal' but it's not! We still have to win the games, we still have to get better and better and I think we can be proud of this," she said.
The victory was also sweet for Belgium since they had lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina twice last year, both at the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021 and in the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers.
Hind Ben Abdelkader was the Player of Game against Bosnia with 18 points (4/7 from 3-pts)
The Cats' victory was also watched by the Belgian Cycling Team with World Champion Remco Evenpoel and Wout Van Aert looking on from the stands at the Sydney Superdome and joined the Cats in the locker room to celebrate.
Unfortunately the Cats' joy was tempered by news later in the day that team leader Emma Meesseman would miss the remainder of the tournament with an injury.
FIBA
