Spain peaking at U19 FIBA World Championship Women

When it comes down to continental youth basketball set-ups then Spain are considered to be number one in Europe.

The Australian set-up is much different to Spain club culture but the AIS programme has enabled the Australians to put a structure in place that has helped develop many players in the programme and elite youth club players.

So the semi-final match-up between two of the giants of youth international basketball was expected to be a classic.

As it turned out, it was a good game with plenty of suspense and some excellent moments but it is not going down as a classic.

After a promising first quarter in which both sides had their moments with seven Australians and six Spaniards scoring as Spain led (16-15), the game became slow, sloppy and very technical.

Individual exploits became the order of the day as Spain went into the locker room leading (24-20).

After the break the match went for Australia from bad to worse with Tayla Roberts falling and hurting herself. She left the court in pain and did not return. They also lost Rebecca Allen who appeared to have rolled her ankle midway through the quarter.

Spain appeared to be cruising at this point in the match leading (30-22) with 24 minutes played. However the Gems managed to stay on the tail of Spain with solid free throwing from Sara Blicavs.

Free throws were the saving grace for Australia as they drew level (33-33) after Rebecca Cole split a pair.

In the meanwhile Mariona Ortiz and Laura Gil were pulling out the plays to keep Spain in front going into the final quarter (37-35).

Astou Ndour from Spain and Gretel Tippett from Australia continued their private battle till the end of the game. Tippett fouled out with five seconds to play.

Spain stayed in front for most of the quarter but were unable to put Australia away. They almost paid the prize when Blicavs tied the game for the last time from the free-throw line (45-45).

Spain were forced to dig deep and Ndour gave Spain the lead for good. Yet the shot of the match came from Marina Delgado whose three-ball, her only points of the game, gave Spain the breathing space they required (50-45) with 80 seconds left to play.

The expectation was that the remaining time would be played at the free-throw line. But once again the coaches had other ideas and the spectators were given some thrills.

Kerryn Harrington somehow got a shot off in the paint for Australia with 34 seconds to play to make it a 2-point game.

Spain used a time-out and Elisabet Vivas was brought into the game. 19 seconds later she scored.

Australia quickly went down the other end but Blicavs missed her shot. Ndour picked up the offensive rebound and was fouled by Tippett.

Tippett had to leave the game. Ndour went 1-of-2 and Spain were back in U19 World Championship final.

Ndour led the way for Spain with 13 points and 13 rebounds while Ortiz had 10 points and 5 assists. Gil scored 8 points, picked up 9 rebounds, made 3 blocks and had 5 steals.

For Australia Cole led the way with 14 points and 5 steals while Blicavs finished with 11 points.

The USA want to defend U19 FIBA World Championship Women crown

The USA allowed Brazil to have seven minutes of fun at the start of the game (9-13) and then switched them off.

Bria Hartley (left) stepped up with back to back treys and the USA were on their way leading (20-15) after the first quarter.

Joice Coelho and Tassia Carcavalli fired in back to back treys at the start of the second quarter which resulted in a USA time-out despite leading (26-23).

After the time-out USA went on a 16-2 run which more or less ended the suspense (42-25) with five minutes left to play in the quarter.

The USA relaxed a little too much but still went into the locker room with a double digit advantage (49-36).

Brazil continued to chip away at the score without ever threatening to take control of the game. However with just over 27 minutes played they trailed by just 5 points (50-55).

The USA decided at this moment to raise their game and finished the quarter with an 11-2 run (66-52).

Brazil were struggling in all sectors of the game but still kept within striking range. The USA were forced to accelerate once more with a 7-0 run to finally end the game as a contest (76-57) with six minutes to play.

Hartley did not score during the second half of the match but finished top scorer with 20 points. Stefanie Dolson, Cierra Burdick and Ariel Massengale scored 12, 11 and 10 points respectively.

For Brazil Damires Dantas led the way with 13 points while Joice Coelho and Tassia Carcavalli added 12 and 11 points each.