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Luxembourg U16 girls end youth international basketball festival on a high The U16 youth international basketball for women and men brought an end to the 75th anniversary for the Luxembourg Basketball Federation. England, Ireland and Luxembourg provided teams for both the women’s and men’s event. The Netherlands were represented in the women’s event while the Slovak Republic came in to complete the men’s event. In the men’s event the England U16 won the tournament with an impressive 3-point percentage over the three days. In the women’s event The Netherlands defeated England on the third day to remain unbeaten and win the tournament while Luxembourg made up a 19-point deficit at half time to stun Ireland at the end. Back to the girls’ action from the final day: The Netherlands downed England for the title The Netherlands and England won their first two games against Ireland and Luxembourg respectively and met in what was the tournament’s decider. The two sides have already played each other on three occasions during the international season with England leading the series 2:1. The Dutch players got off to a better start and stamped their authority early. By the end of the first period they led (21-13). Both teams struggled with perimeter shooting all through the game with The Netherlands going ahead into the interval (36-29). England tightened up defensively and kept their opponents scoreless for almost six minutes during the third period. However they were unable to get any offence going and only managed to score 5 points (34-36). The Netherlands then took control of the game and went on win (54-37). Eline Kasius and Willemijn Kallenberg did most of the scoring for the winners with 18 and 12 points respectively while Temi Fagbenle led the England scoring with 18 points. Luxembourg left it late to hand Ireland the wooden spoon
Luxembourg appeared to be tired after their 40-minute full-court press match the previous night against England. They were out of sort with Ireland taking the advantage to lead (21-13) at the end of the first period. During the second quarter Ireland showed some of their defensive qualities as they only allowed Luxembourg 8 points to extend their lead at the interval (40-21).
Ireland continued to run the ball as in the first period but were not able to reach the basket. Yet they maintained their lead (44-26). Then Lena Hetto started to find her way to the basket for Luxembourg and her team stepped up their game. Both sides traded baskets for the rest of period with Luxembourg having the best of the exchange to reduce their deficit by the end of third quarter to (42-53). The fourth period was again end to end basketball. Ireland lost Tessa Solan and Katie Kilbride for 5 fouls as the match reached its climax. Sandy Lorsche also found her mark from 3-point land while nothing went right for Ireland. Ireland had led this match for more than 38 minutes but were to fall as Julie Zoville hit the game-winning shot from the free-throw line. Both teams will meet again in the U16 European Championship, which begins on 8 August 2008. All the results from the three days of the U16 women youth international basketball tournament in Wiltz, Luxembourg are listed below: Netherlands 67 – 30 Luxembourg Netherlands 60 – 44 Ireland England 37- 54 Netherlands Youth international Basketball Partnership Tournament Luxembourg U18 women Preview Return from Youth international Basketball U16 Partnership Tournament Luxembourg to "What's New" page Return to youth international basketball index Date created: 03 August 2008
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In the first half of the match Ireland dominated their opponents right from the tip-off. They played at high tempo and were very aggressive in the paint. 
René Keiser, (left) the Luxembourg head coach had a heart-to-heart talk with his players during the break with the result of his side coming out more focused in the second half.
