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FIBA Europe U16 Division A
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France have missed out on a direct qualification for the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women after falling to Belgium (67-70) in a dramatic finish during the first quarter-final.The Belgium coach Arvid Diels (right in picture) could not hide his joy after the final buzzer.
Spain once again made it look easy with a comfortable victory against Greece (75-28) while Turkey outscored Sweden (56-53) in an evenly matched encounter.
Italy complete the semi-final quartet by beating Russia (60-50) with 23 points coming from Cecilia Zandalasini.
France must battle for fifth place with the other teams eliminated in the quarter-final to gain the last and fifth ticket to the FIBA World Championship.
In the relegation group, Poland came out on top against Serbia (66-62). Sanja Mandic was once again the leading scorer for Serbia with 26 points and 7 rebounds while Aleksandra Crvendakic chipped in 18 points.
However for Poland Weronika Telenga who missed the last couple of games was the match winner in her best game of the tournament so far with 20 points.
In the second relegation game Finland recorded their first victory of the competition by beating Croatia (61-54).
Moona Hämäläinen and Jasmine Dolivo were the leading scorers with 13 and 11 points each. For Croatia Antonija Chiabov and Ivana Matic scored 16 points apiece.
In the 9th-12th place classification games the Czech Republic beat Hungary (65-59) while the Netherlands won against the Slovak Republic (52-48).
You may read the 2011 FIBA Europe U16 European Championship for Women Division A quarter-final stories of interest by selecting the link below.
Belgium 70-67 France
Spain 75-28 Greece
Sweden 53-56 Turkey
Italy 60-50 Russia
Picture Gallery
France U16 should not forget Julie Allemand
The reason why international youth basketball at U16 level is exciting even when the young players miss every shot under the sun are the moments of brilliance.
Belgium had one second to come up with a play to avoid overtime. Their coach Arvid Diels needed two minutes to explain how he wanted the play to run.
Anyway what happened next was Belgium that inbounded. A screen was set up and Julie Allemand (left) released a shot from way behind the three-point line that went in, game over.
The Belgium players then came up with a new celebration after the U18 Haka. This time Hind Ben Abdelkader played out a paint-ball scene in which she pelted her team-mates and they fell over twice. Then in the end she was pelted and everybody fell down.
The game itself was great from the tip-off right to the end.
France had Clémentine Morateur back and they changed their starting approach from the previous three games.
Unfortunately Morateur missed the opportunity from the charity stripes to open the scoring for France. But Assistan Koné got her side off the mark.
Belgium quickly changed their defensive system while taking the lead on the back of a trey by Margo De Korte.
Axelle Bernard and Ben Abdelkader made sure that Belgium maintained the advantage (7-4) with three minutes played.
The next six minutes were typical of U16 basketball with both teams doing a lot of running up and down, shooting and plenty of exuberance.
Belgium were a little bit more clever and with a minute left to play they led by (16-14).
Then France switched to their running game. They finished with taking the lead on the back of a trey by Bétengere Dinga-Mbomi (in picture) and a lay-up by Koné to close the quarter (17-16).
The second quarter turned into a basketball shoot-out with the teams exchanging three-pointers as the pace went up.
Julien Egloff, the French coach, was not too pleased and called for a time-out with France trailing (30-27) with just under five minutes played in the quarter.
The French forwards had a height advantage over their Belgium opposite numbers. The coach's plan was to stop Belgium from shooting from outside while taking advantage of the second point options inside the paint.
On the next attack Morateur fired in a trey which did not hit the target but Aby Gaye picked up the rebound for a put-back.
France then gained the lead as Gaye went on a drive to the basket and was fouled. She hit the free throws and France were back in front (31-30).
It was time for Belgium to change tactics. When they caught the French defense sleeping Medjo slipped into the paint to score with an AND-1.
Belgium continued to shoot with little success from beyond the arc. Although they were not collecting their own rebounds, they were finally able to add 2 more points on a second-chance opportunity (35-31).
As the players from both teams started to tire they started to miss the simple lay-up.
Belgium lost their momentum and France was able to score on a transition fast break play concluded by Koné.
France dew up a play with three seconds to play before going to the locker room but it did not work as Devilliers shot more in hope then conviction.
Belgium missed their last six attempts from beyond the arc but still went into the locker room leading (35-33).
No matter what France did in the third quarter they could not get past Belgium. With two minutes remaining Egloff's (in picture) frustration got the better of him and he picked up an necessary technical foul.
Belgium did the simple things better and went into the final quarter ahead (52-47).
The final quarter was following the same pattern as the third with Belgium holding onto the lead (64-58) with just over four minutes to play.
Egloff's running battle with the officials reached its climax with him picking up a second technical which is the equivalent of an ejection.
With just under four minutes remaining and trailing (58-66) France played better. Morateur started a French revolt with a huge three-pointer.
Dinga-Mbomi and Gaye continued the work while Morateur finished the 8-0 run with a split pair for France to lead (67-66) with 30 seconds to play.
Abdelkader tied things up once again (67-67) with a split pair with 20 seconds left to play.
Koné picked up the rebound off the missed free throw and in a twinkle of an eye the ball was with Morateur, who then rushed the three-ball attempt and missed.
The game was into the last second (1.1 seconds) and the French coaching staff called a time-out. As soon as the time was over the Belgium coach called a time-out.
After all the talking Allemand became a hero with the shot of the tournament to date. Belgium have qualified for the 2012 U17 FIBA World Championship to be held in the Netherlands next year.
France must now win the fifth place classification round.
Belgium: Margo De Korte 17, Julie Allemand 12, Anneleen Da Baets 7, An-Katrien Nauwelaers 0, Celine Lemmens DNP, Aline Verelst 2, Hind Ben Abdelkader 18 (8 assists 8 rebounds), Axelle Bernard 8, Laeticia Mpoyi 0, Kyara Linskens 0, Isabelle Medjo 6, Marlon Delrue DNP
French players: Clémentine Morateur 4, Alexia Lacaule 0, Bétengere Dinga-Mbomi 20, Lysa Millavet 0 (9 rebounds), Ondaye Elenga DNP, Mousdandy Djaldi-Tabdi DNP, Fleur Devilliers 7, Laetitia Guapo 2, Assistan Koné 17 (16 rebounds), Marie Mané 3, Aby Gaye 14 (9 rebounds), Marie Milapie DNP
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Spain, once again too strong
The Spanish team played with a lot of maturity that at times it is easy to forget that there are 15- and 16-year old ones playing.
Greece scored first through Dimitra Tsavou after almost two minutes to lead for the only time in the game.
Maria Arrojo got the Spanish show on the road 21 seconds later. Within 40 seconds Spain led (7-1) and the game was already over.
Spain controlled the pace and accelerated when they wanted to. By the end of the first quarter they lead (18-9).
Spain scored the first 10 points of the second quarter to conclude a 15-0 run. They then took their foot off the accelerator as they went into the locker room ahead (36-13).
Greece were never in the game but their coach Yorgos Velisarakos (in picture) put in all his effort and picked up a technical foul.
Spain won (75-28) with Leticia Romero having the honour of leading the scoring with 12 points.
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Turkey just outpaced Sweden
Melis Gülcan's three-pointer with just under two minutes left to play turned out to be the winning basket for Turkey.
That shot gave Turkey a 5-point lead (56-51). But Sweden are known for their money-time exploits.
In a space of 60 seconds, Sweden missed four times including a couple of three-pointer attempts. In the same time Turkey managed just one shot.
Eventually the Swedish pressure and aggressive play paid off as Gabriella Hanson found herself at the free-throw line. Although she is not the best shooter in this discipline she held her nerve to hit both.
The last 53 seconds turned into a Swedish nightmare. They kept on shooting. But the ball would not drop.
However with 15 seconds to play Hülya Coklar from Turkey had the chance to put Turkey home and dry from the free-throw line. Yet she ended up missing both of them.
Sweden had one more chance to save the game. For some reason the ball was in the hand of Regan Magarity who is not a three-point shooter. Anyway she went for the shot and missed. She chased down her own rebound and then fumbled the ball.
Turkey could not match the physical style of the Swedish team but their speed and solid defending helped them through. Both sides had a bad time at the free-throw line with just 7-from-26 between them.
Büsra Akbas led Turkey with 19 points and 4 assists. Nurcan Basaran was the only other player in double digits with 10 points.
For Sweden Magarity had a double-double of 18 points and 18 rebounds while Henson finished on 13 points.
Turkey are going to their second U17 FIBA World Championship Women final while Sweden must get past Greece in the battle for fifth place.
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Host Italy knock out Russia
Italy made home advantage count in every way possible by getting off to a flying start scoring the first 12 points of the game.
The Russians were brought back into the game with 10 first-quarters points by Yana Degtyarskaya.
The Italians with Cecilia Zandalasini leading the way went into the second quarter in front (19-12). Despite conceding the last 9 points of the quarter they went into the interval ahead (34-27).
Both teams stepped up defensively in the second half of the match and were forced to work hard to score. Similar to most of the quarter-final games, the free throwing was poor.
Russia applied a full court press that backfired as they were not able to score. Italy profited and increased their advantage going into the final quarter (46-34).
With four minutes to play Italy appeared to be home and dry leading (54-42).
However back to back three-pointers by Ekaterina Tsukanova from Russia got the home supporters worried as the game entered the final minute (50-55).
Zandalasini with her 21th point of the game settled the Italian fans and put her side back in charge.
Russia had no option but foul to stop the clock in the remaining time.
The hosts hit 3-from-4 to win the tie and qualify for the 2012 U17 FIBA World Championship.
Zandalasini led the way with 23 points while Elisa Penna was the only other player in double digits with 10 points. Anna Djedjemel and Sofia Marangoni dished out 4 assists each.
For Russia Yana Degtyarskaya and Polina Fedorova were the only players in double digits with 17 and 12 points each.
France meet Russia next in the fifth place qualification game.
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Picture gallery
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FIBA Europe basketball picture credits:
FIBA Europe - Castoria/Gregolin
Masbasket.com
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