Canada got past the Australian GEMS

The idea behind both institutions is to develop youth international basketball players at high school age into future top players that will either go on to university sports or become professionals.

During their preparation for this U19 World Championship, both institutions visited France and came away with good results.

Due to the fact that Australia came into the quarter-final undefeated, they had the unofficial title of “favourite“ for this match.

Canada put an end to this billing as they raced out to a (6-0) lead with Nathalie Achonwa (left) and Kayla Alexander doing all the scoring.

Australia started to find their way back into the game with Liz Cambage doing her work inside the paint. However Australia were not shooting the ball well and missed a number of shots. So the comeback was slow.

Kelsey Ireland from Australia banged in a trey with just under 3 ½ minutes remaining in the first period (9-10) to bring Australia back to a single point.

Achonwa gave Canada some breathing space with a couple of points. But back to back scores from Cambage put Australia in the lead for the first time.

Elysee Jobin hit her first trey of the game as Canada regained the lead briefly. Rachel Jarry scored seconds later and the two teams finished the first period level (15-15).

The second quarter was not as good technically as the first one. Both coaches had to raise their voices a lot.

Australia went in front from a free-throw from Stephanie Cummings and stayed ahead due to the scoring of Cambage. They held a maximum advantage of 6 points at one stage.

Canada’s success from beyond the arc kept them close on the heals of Australia. However with 27 seconds left in the quarter Canada were back on level terms (27-27).

They then went into the locker room in front as Jennifer Vaughan was left open on the baseline to hit a buzzer-beater three-pointer.

The third period was not pretty with both teams struggling offensively. Cambage scored 7-of-9 points for Australia. Yet the highlight was a second trey by Jobin as Canada went into the final quarter leading (40-35).

They somehow managed to stay in front (47-45) with five minutes remaining in the game.

Alexander (right) had the task of stopping Cambage but Australia drew level through Jarry.

The pace slowed down and the teams took less risks. Canada struggled to get into the paint but worked the ball out to Vaughan who hit a trey.

This trey turned out to be the game winning shot with just under four minutes left to play.

Cambage did manage to score once more for Australia but Canada held on defensively and won the game (50-49).

Rich Chamber, the coach from Canada, was speechless after the game and had nothing to say.

Cambage finished with a game high 26 points and 10 rebounds for Australia while Achonwa led the way for Canada with 16 points.

Canada also hit 6-of-15 from beyond the arc.

USA too strong for France

The USA quickly got into their stride through Nnemkadi Ogwumike (left) who opened the scoring with back to back scores.

However France found their shooting touch. With Laurie Datchy and Maud Medenou firing in from beyond the arc France pushed ahead to lead (22-16) by the end of the first period.

France were highly motivated and despite to the efforts of Ogwumike for the USA they extended their advantage (36-28) with three minutes left to play in the quarter.

The USA did not panic. With Shenise Johnson and Layshia Clarenton finding the way to the basket the two teams went into the locker room tied (36-36).

The Americans made the first move at the start of the second half with Samantha Prahalis starting to impose her authority.

Kelsey Bone caused mayhem as her side moved 8 points clear (48-40) with under three minutes played.

France were on the back foot and unable to get anything going inside the paint. The USA stretched their advantage (63-49) with two minutes left in the quarter.

France had no choice but to shoot from far with three-pointers from Elénore Grossemy and Datchy.

Also Allison Vernerey was coming up with some individual exploits for her side to finish on a 10-0 run to trail (59-63) going into the final period.

The first five minutes of the last quarter was youth international basketball at its best with passion, intensity and suspense.

The ability of the USA to keep France away from the paint to stretch their lead (73-64) with about five minutes left to play was the key in this game.

France tried all they could to bring the score down but started to make errors and the USA punished them each time. They ended up wining by a a comfortable margin (88-75).

Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins led the USA attack with 16 points each. Bone and Johnson also finished in double digits with 12 and 10 points each.

For France Datchy scored 17 points and Medenou finished on 12.

Argentina left it late again while Spain beat Lithuania

After all the excitement and drama of the first two games, Argentina decided that they would wait until overtime before beating Russia (75-67).

Argentina were aggressive throughout the match and led (33-30) at the interval. But then they had a poor third period allowing the Russians to go ahead into the final period (43-39).

Russia did not tire in the final period and had one foot in the semi-final.

But with five seconds remaining Andrea Boquete (left) from Argentina hit a couple of free-throws and the game went into overtime.

Boquete then scored the last 5 points for Argentina during overtime for her side to lead (67-63) with just over 30 seconds to play.

Russia scored again but were unable to save the game and Argentina won (67-65) with Boquete scoring 18 points and collecting 10 rebounds.