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FIBA Europe U16 Division A
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The first day of action at any FIBA U16 tournament is special because for most of the players it is the first time in an international championship.This season with EuroBasket Women and the U19 Championship taking place, our coverage of U16 basketball preparation was restricted to the "Tournoi International Cadettes au Poinçonnet" in April.
Over the next few days the U16 youth basketball festival in Cagliari 16 teams are competing for two prices: the trophy of European Champions and secondly a place in the 2012 U17 World Championship.
Russia are the defending champions while Hungary and the Slovak Republic return back to the top flight after gaining promotion from Division B.
France have won bronze medals at the last three U16 championships and with their new coach Julien Egloff are hoping for another podium finish.
Turkey edge France in an opening day classic
Anybody reading the statistic notices that both teams turned the ball over 19 times and shot under 40%.
However this game was a U16 youth international basketball match at its best. The game was tied on 12 occasions while the lead changed hand 12 times. Mousdandy Djaldi-Tabdi (right) for France managed just seven minutes play time before fouling out.
France led (16-11) at the end of the first quarter but had to settle for a draw going into the locker room (26-26). By the end of the third quarter the teams were still locked together (44-44).
The match continued in the same way all through the final quarter. Unfortunately for Turkey the injury to Sehernaz Cidal was such that she could not finish the game.
With the teams tied (57-57) with about 30 seconds to play Büsra Akbas was open on the wing and fired in her first and only trey of the match (60-57) which turned out be the game winning shot.
She had missed her six previous attempts.
France still had time to come back but Clémentine Morateur's three-ball failed to drop. The last 20 seconds were typical for players of this age, turnovers, missed free throws and players diving all over the place.
Aby Gaye did score for France but it was not enough for the victory.
Büsra Akbas led the way for Turkey with 13 points while Hülya Coklar had a double double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.
French Players: Clémentine Morateur 6 (4 assists), Alexia Lacaule 0, Bétengere Dinga-Mbomi 5, Lysa Millavet 0, Ondaye Elenga 2, Mousdandy Djaldi-Tabdi 6, Fleur Devilliers 7, Laetitia Guapo 8, Assistan Koné 16 (11 rebounds), Marie Mané 0, Aby Gaye 9, Marie Milapie DNP
In the other game from Group D, the Netherlands beat Serbia (68-61). The Netherlands had the better start leading (22-13) by the end of the first quarter.
Serbia came back slowly and with two minutes to play they trailed by just 3 points points (61-64).
However a three-ball by Lisanne de Jonge in the closing seconds put the Dutch back on track. De Jonge finished the game with 17 points while Sanja Mandic scored 29 points for Serbia.
What else happened on day 1 in Cagliari
We have seen it all summer in the FIBA Europe youth events, Spain thumping opponents with a simple press. Spain beat the hosts Italy (87-27) in a flawless display. Everybody from Spain scored with Marina Lizarazu scoring the most with 14 points.
Also in Group C Hungary got past Finland in a scrappy encounter (57-42) with 15 points coming from Fanni Bodnar.
In Group B, the defending champions Russia needed a 12-0 run in the second quarter to take control of the game (25-15) and another 12-0 run in the third quarter to blow away Croatia.
Russia went on to win (51-39) with Polina Fedorova leading the way with 12 points. Kamila Hoskova was the top scorer for the Czech Republic with 17 points.
Greece got the start they wanted with a (68-56) victory against Croatia. Anna Stamolamprou led the way for the Greeks with 19 points while Antonija Chiabov compiled a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds for Croatia.
In Group A, Sweden got by Belgium in a scrappy affair. The shooting was not very good and yet both teams hit some spectacular shots from beyond the arc. Sweden always had the advantage once they edged the first quarter (14-7). Belgium used a lot of energy in chasing after the score. Each time they clawed their way back, Sweden would take off again.
In the final quarter Sweden used a 10-0 run to put Belgium away for good and ended up winning (56-49) with Gabriella Hanson leading the way with 15 points. For Belgium Hind Ben Abdelkader was the top scorer with 15 points.
The Slovak Republic used a 10-0 run in the final quarter to put Poland down. Poland scored just 1 point during the last 10 minutes as they fell (41-58).
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FIBA Europe basketball picture credits:
FIBA (Europe)
FIP - Federazione Italiana Pallacanestro
U16 Division A
Final Round
21 August 2011: Spain beat Belgium in final for another trophy
20 August 2011: Belgium and Spain are the finalists - France: not going to U17 World Championship
19 August 2011: Belgium, Italy, Spain and Turkey in semi-final
Qualifying Round
17 August 2011: France clinch quarter-final spot
16 August 2011: Italy & Belgium qualify while France lose again
15 August 2011: Italy shock France
Preliminary Round
15 August 2011: Finland eliminated by hosts Italy
12 August 2011: France win while three teams are eliminated from title race
11 August 2011: France lose to Turkey by 1 point
U16 Division B
Final Round
21 August 2011: Germany takes trophy home
20 August 2011: England and Germany going to Division A
19 August 2011: Bulgaria, England, Germany and Latvia qualify for semi-final
Qualifying Round
17 August 2011: Quarter-final bracket set
16 August 2011: All quarter-finalists still not known
15 August 2011: Germany, Lithuania and Portugal going strong
Preliminary Round
15 August 2011: Luxembourg's struggles continue
12 August 2011: Ireland and Israel eliminated
11 August 2011: Switzerland start well