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Senegal, an easy opponent for France at the FIBA World ChampionshipThe following teams are playing in Ostrava in the preliminary round of the FIBA World Championship for Women: Australia, Belarus, Canada, China, France, Greece, Senegal and the USA.
France opened their campaign with a comfortable victory against Senegal (83-45) with Clémence Beikes and Céline Dumerc (below right) top scoring with 12 points while Emméline Ndongue added 10 points. Dumerc also dished out 6 assists. However Senegal started the match full of energy and led (4-2) early on. Yet a 9-0 burst by France put France in front for good (11-4) with just under four minutes played. It was one way traffic in terms of scoring as France dominated the first quarter (22-13). Pierre Vincent continued to turn his roster during the second quarter. A 15-0 run by France brought the game to an end as a contest (33-13) with just over 16 minutes played.
France headed into the locker room leading (44-16). They then relaxed a little too much after the break while Senegal started to attack the basket more and reduced their deficit going into the final quarter (32-55). So Pierre Vincent asked his players to increase their intensity in the last quarter. The team stepped on the accelerator with perfect perimeter shooting (62-34). This resulted in the Senegalese coach, Moustapha Gaye, calling a time-out with seven minutes still to play. Yet nothing changed for Senegal and France cruised to a comfortable win (83-45). Awa Traore had 10 points, while Sy-Diop added 8 points, took 6 rebounds and blocked twice in her team's defeat. In the other game from Group B, the USA beat Greece (99-73) with all 12 players scoring. Evanthia Maltsi from Greece led all scoring with 29 points. She went 6-of-7 from behind the arc. Her team-mate and Bourges Basket player Styliani Kaltsidou fired in 21 points. The USA were firmly in control by the interval leading (52-35) and had five players in double digits with Swin Cash and Angel McCoughtry leading the way with 16 points each.
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Mame-Marie Sy-Diop (left) scored her team's only field goal with just over a minute to play in the second quarter.
