USA keep U19 FIBA World Championship trophy

The USA played a high tempo transition game and raced off to an early lead (17-9) with Kaleena Lewis leading the way with 8 points (including two treys).

Spain were struggling with the pace of Ariel Massengale (right) and the inside play of Stefanie Dolson as they fell further behind (20-9).

Finally they found the answer with treys by Elisabet Vivas and Elena Diaz but with just one offensive rebound and no trips to the free-throw line.

On the other side the USA hit 7-from-9 shots from the charity stripes as they edged the first quarter (25-15).

The second quarter belonged to the USA with Elizabeth Williams and Dolson finishing plenty of nice moves in the paint.

Spain continued to misfire and went into the locker room trailing (22-37).

At the start of the second half Spain played much better. Yet quick Massengale from the USA was running the show with assist after assist as her side's advantage grew.

When Cierra Burdick dished out an assist to Lewis, the USA went 20 points clear (49-29) with 25 minutes played.

Unfortunately the match fizzled out from this point. The USA was too strong and Spain were not able to hit a single shot.

The USA went into the final quarter leading (56-36). They cruised all the way to the end with all the players getting on the court as they defeated Spain (69-46).

Dolson, Lewis and Williams all scored 15 points while Massengale scored 10 points and dished out 7 assists.

For Spain Astou Ndour was the only player in double digits with 10 points.

Brazil take the bronze medal

Mariana Lambert (left) came into this match with a total of 55 minutes playing time in the competition and ended up as the hero with Brazil beating Australia (70-67).

She played the last eight minutes of the game and scored 11 points of which 7 came from the charity stripes.

Damiris Dantas led Brazil with her sixth double double of the competition, 26 points and 13 rebounds despite going 6-of-15 from the free-throw line. Tassia Carcavalli was the other player in double digits with 13 points.

Australia won the battle of the boards, dished out 22 assists and scored 32 points in the paint. But they turned the ball over 25 times of which Brazil scored 6 points.

Rebecca Allen and Tayla Roberts both recovered from the knocks in the semi-final match and scored 16 points each for the Gems. Rebecca Cole finished the game with 12 points and 7 assists.

Australia struggled all game long with the zone defense used by Brazil and were never in real control.

Roberts was in her element during the first quarter and scored 10 points. But the South Americans put a run together with Carcavalli, Dantas and Vanessa Goncalves all scoring as Brazil opened up a 5-point lead. They eventually won the first quarter (20-16).

Australia were more organised at the start of the second quarter and drew level off a corner trey by Kerryn Harrington (21-21) with 12 minutes played.

They continued with their run and went 6 points clear (27-21) with 14 minutes played.

Brazil fought back and caught Australia napping with fast breaks to regain the lead (32-31) with just under three minutes left in the first half.

Brazil missed a chance to go into the locker room with the lead when Dantas (in picture) three-point shot did not drop. In the confusion that followed, the Brazilian players believed that the quarter had ended and were leaving the court.

After the officials and the game commissioner spoke, the shot clock was reset to about 2.7 seconds. This gave Cole from Australia enough time to get from centre court into the paint and pull up for a jump shot on the buzzer to give the Gems the half-time lead (35-33).

Carina Martins opened the second half with a quick three-pointer from the top of the arc but Allen responded with another three-pointer which was quickly followed by 2 points by Cole.

Australia were in front (40-37), yet Brazil went on a 14-2 run to take the lead (51-42) late in the quarter.

Australia finished the third quarter with a clutch three-pointer by Sara Blicavs (45-51).

The final quarter was fast and furious and with six minutes left to play the teams were tied for the eighth and final time (53-53) with six minutes to play.

The Lambert show started with 5 points in 20 seconds that resulted in an Australian time-out.

Dantas kept Brazil in front but with Gretel Tippett scoring and a big three by Allen, the South American lead was just 3 points (63-60) with one minute to play.

Australia did everything in their power to save the game but with Lambert hitting 6 free throws in the last 38 seconds, Brazil held on.

Blicavs' buzzer beater three-pointer at the end of the game was a case of too late as it did not prevent Australia from losing.

Brazil's third place finish is their best result ever in a FIBA youth world championship.

The rest of the news

Damiris Dantas was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Puerto Montt, Chile. She averaged 20.9 points per game and 12.9 rebounds. She had 6 double-doubles in this competition.

She was joined by Astou Ndour (Spain), Rui Machida (Japan), Ariel Massengale (USA) and Breanna Stewart (USA) in the All-Tournament Team.

For the first 20 minutes France were more or less on equal terms with Canada and trailed by just 4 points at half time (32-36).

Michelle Plouffe from Canada, who scored the first 7 points in the game, scored the only points from open play during the first five minutes of the third quarter as the game began to slip away from France.

The Canadians took full advantage of the passive form of France to stretch the lead by the end of the third quarter to 9 points (50-41).

France disappeared during the final quarter leaving the way open for Nirra Fields and Canada to claim 5th place at U19 World Championship.

Fields finished the game with 18 points while Michelle Plouffe had 14 points and 4 assists. Korissa Williams was the other top scorer with 11 points.

For France Adja Konteh led the way with 14 points while Clarince Djaldi-Tabdi (10 rebounds) and Héléna Akmouche scored 12 and 10 points respectively.

France ended the U19 FIBA World Championship in 6th place with 6 wins and 3 defeats.

Japan went into the final quarter against Russia trailing (53-57) but then went on to outscore Russia in the final minutes to claim 7th place (71-66).

Shiori Takada, Sanae Motokawa, Rui Machida (in picture: 9 rebounds and 6 assists) and Aoi Katsura all finished in double digits with 19, 17, 16 and 12 points respectively.

For Russia Ksenia Tikhonenko had another double double with 21 points and 17 rebounds while Alexandra Stolyar (4 assists) and Svetlana Efimova contributed 14 and 12 points each. Ekaterina Fedorenkova dished out 6 assists while scoring 8 points