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France are out
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Spain are the last team to qualify for the FIBA World Championship for Women semi-final after beating France (74-71) in overtime.A cautious start from both teams resulted in a lot of substitution and little scoring with Spain having the advantage (11-10) with less than four minutes played.
The pace did not pick up as the game became rather technical with defense being the key.
Amaya Valdemoro scored 10 points for Spain while Marielle Amant, Nwal-Endéné Miyem and Emméline Ndongue shared the scoring for France as they edged the first quarter (16-14).
The second quarter was dull and technical with just 18 points scored between the two teams with France going into the locker room ahead (23-22).
The second half started well. France were first out of the blocks with Jennifer Digbeu and then Clémence Beikes and Miyem to score to go 11 points clear (35-24) after 23 minutes of play.
After a time-out by Spain they started to find their way to the basket with Sancho Lyttle (30-37).
Pierre Vincent changed his defensive system and kept a player on Lyttle all the time. At first it worked as France scored to stretch their lead (45-32) with three minutes left to play in the third quarter.
Anna Montañana and Valdemoro took advantage of the close marking for Lyttle and scored from beyond the arc.
However Céline Dumerc also decided to join in the three-point shooting festival which allowed France to go into the final quarter leading (52-43).
Lyttle from Spain was hurt towards the end of the third quarter and did not return to the final two quarters.
The cat and mouse game continued between the two teams for the first first four minutes of the quarter with France holding onto the advantage (56-49).
Both teams started to hit three-pointers with Spain drawing closer and closer to France.
France had the lead going into money-time. Yet poor free throwing allowed Spain right back into the match with Valdemoro sending the game into overtime.
Both sides threw caution to the wind in overtime. Alba Torrens gave Spain the perfect start with back to back scores. The two teams were back on level terms (69-69) with two minutes left in overtime.
Then Ndongue put France in front from the charity stripe.
But scores from Cindy Lima and Montañana put Spain (74-71) into the semi-final of the FIBA World Championship.
Summary of day 7 at the FIBA world Championships
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FIBA World Championship picture credit:
womensbasketball-in-france.comDate created: 01 October 2010
