World Championship Day 6 Round up
The final round of women’s pool matches began with Germany taking on USA. The match would determine who finished top of pool B with the losers finishing second in the group. In a hard fought match, USA took the lead from the start and never relinquished it throughout although Germany made life difficult for them throughout. USA always kept the Germans at arm’s length with Christina Ripp and Becca Murray doing most of the damage for USA. Stephanie Wheeler however fouled out for USA. For Germany Gesche Schunemann top scored with 19 points. The USA ran out 65 – 53 winners and will now play Great Britain as group winners in the quarter finals while Germany will face The Netherlands in the knockout stage.
The second pool B game saw China taking on Japan to decide the third and fourth spots in the group. Japan made an explosive start and were 15 points to two ahead after the first five minutes. The quarter ended 24 – 10 to Japan and China didn’t really recover for the rest of the game. The half time score of 37 – 22 left China with too much to do in the second half and Japan ran out comfortable 67 – 47 winners. Yun Long fouled for China while Chao Yang top scored with Japan’s Mari Amimoto and Ikumi Inoue standing out with 23 and 17 points respectively. Japan will play Canada in the next round and China face Australia.
It was a must win game for Great Britain’s Women team as they took on Mexico in their final pool match GB came out with all guns blazing taking an early 8 – 0 lead, , GB failed to capitalise on their dominance finishing the 1st quarter with only a four point lead. Great Britain then let Mexico back into the game and a foul from Louise Sugden gave Claudia Miranda, two free throws to tie the score, but with only one converted it took the Mexican side within one point at half time 26 – 25. The final quarter saw GB extend their lead to seven points but Mexico were still not giving up and a huge three pointer saw them bring the deficit back to four points. Each time GB seemed to pull away, Mexico rallied. GB managed to maintain a strong defensive game and hold on to win their first win of the Championships and progress through to the knockout stages.
The top two sides in pool A met to determine who would finish top. Canada went into the match unbeaten so far while Australia had already suffered one defeat to The Netherlands. Canada’s Janet McLachlan once again had an excellent game scoring 23 points but it wasn’t enough to help Canada remain unbeaten as they lost a close game 59 – 52. The Canadians had led throughout and with five minutes to go looked comfortable but a superb late rally by Australia saw them turn a five point deficit into a seven point lead. Kylie Gauci, Shelley Chaplin and Cobi Crispin all contributed high points scores to ensure that Australia topped the group going into the knockout stage.
In a top of the table clash Great Britain and USA, the lead changed hands 24 times ensuring a tense final pool A stage game.
The game got off to a ferocious start with a 3 pointer for USA’s Jason Nelms opening the scoring. Ian Sagar continued his fine form from the rest of the tournament adding 4 points. It was a close first quarter with three pointers coming from USA’s Matt Scott and Great Britain’s Jon Pollock. USA still finished the quarter with a 2 point lead.
The match was fairly even in the second quarter as the teams exchanged baskets to tie the game at 28 all. It was Gaz Choudhry’s two free throws that put GB ahead for the first time in the match. GB outscored USA 19 -15 in this quarter turning the tables to give them the two point advantage. The third quarter went in much the same fashion with USA and GB both cancelling each other outvand the two sides went into the final quarter level on 51 points each.
At the start of the final quarter, Simon Munn shot four points to edge GB ahead. Although it was not a dirty game, several players found themselves in foul trouble including Jon Pollock, Simon Munn and Simon Brown for GB and Matthew Scott for USA. USA started to lose their grip on the game and their discipline with the coach receiving a technical foul. GB then ran away with it and got the win needed to set up a favourable quarter final draw.
Italy and Japan faced each other in the second game in pool A with third place the best that either team could hope for. A topsy-turvy first quarter saw Italy take an early lead midway through the quarter but Japan ended it ahead by one point. The second quarter was a tight affair but Italy managed to end the half three points ahead 41 – 38. The Italy coach’s half time team talk however seemed to work as his side managed to pull away from Japan and the game finished with a healthy 17 point margin as Italy ran out 77 – 60 winners. Japan’s Reo Fujimoto again was the star performer for his side but Amine Moukhariq, Galliano Marchionni and Matteo Cavagnini scored 60 points between them to guarantee the win for Italy.
After the close game yesterday against GB Poland will be wanting to add to there previous victory while if Korea can get there first victory can still qualify for the next stages. Korea will need to be aware of no11 poland who has been in impressive form scoring an average 22.25 points per game and top of the two point percentage leading stats for the tournament so far.
South Korea played Poland with the hope securing their first win of the Championships. The first quarter started with Korea winning the jump ball and opening the scoring. Korea had identified Piotr Luszynski as the danger man and gave Dong Hyeon Kim the task of man marking Luszynski to limit his possession and try to stop his path into the key. Poland edged the initial stages gaining a 5 point lead after converting an open lay-up on the break. Some good offence in the final minute by Korea lead to three fouls being received although with only two free throws being made meant that Poland had the 2 point advantage. 17-19.
The second quarter started with Korea gaining confidence and each team cancelling each other out both scoring two baskets each in the opening 4 minutes. Korea went on to gain a 1 point lead and overturn the score although this lasted less than one minute until Luszynski made his second basket of the game putting Poland back ahead. Going into the interval Poland doubled the advantage to that of the first with a 4 point lead. 31-35. Korea started the third well on the offence with Seung-Hyun Cho adding to his total with Poland having the opportunity to extend the lead although unusually Luszynski missed two two pointers in quick succession. Korea brought the score back again to give themselves a 1 point lead although again letting this slip for Poland to continue the theme of adding two points to the lead margin for each quarter so far. 47-53.
Korea started the final quarter knowing that they needed to continue and improve the good play if they were to get the win but missed out on early opportunities to gain the points for the ideal start. Poland introduced no8 to the court who got his first two points of game converting both free throws following the foul. This quarter proved not to be as close with great offence and team play allowing Poland to maintain and extend the lead to 19 points although this did not really reflect what was a close game overall.
Mexico played Algeria in a men’s pool B game with everything to play for as the winning team would secure a place in the knockout stages while the losing team would be going home. Mexico were quickest out of the blocks and surged to a 24 – 13 lead at the end of the first quarter and then extended that lead to 44 – 25 at half time. Eduardo Prieto and Raul Ortega did the damage for the Mexicans scoring 24 and 19 points respectively. In the second half Algeria fought back and closed the gap down to 10 points but it was short lived as Mexico proved to be too strong and finished the game 18 points ahead with a 79 – 61 win. For Algeria Billel Ayache continued his impressive tournament with another 17 points while Nabil Guidone had a mixed game, scoring 18 points but also getting fouled out.
France played Turkey in a close match that France should have won by a bigger margin but Turkey ran them close all the way. It was literally a game of two halves as France dominated the first 2 quarters and went in at half time 34 – 15. However they let Turkey back into the game after the break with Turkey outscoring France in both second half periods. In the end the four point winning margin was just enough for France who now face Great Britain in the quarter finals on Wednesday.
Canada played Australia in the last game of the day with a lot of support and spectators around the court and in the stands creating a good atmosphere for this clash to determine who will finish top with both teams unbeaten so far. The game started with Australia loosing the jump ball shortly followed by Canada opening the scoring and going on to gain a 6 point lead. Australia responded with there first basket by Dylan Alcott and through great offence closed the lead finishing a close first quarter with a one point advantage. 13-14.
Second quarter started with Canada getting the first basket through Adam Lancia. A great long distance 2 pointer while under pressure from Brett Stibners added another two too the Australian board with them having a 9 point lead at half time. 23-32. The third quarter started with Canada playing some good offence with a great 2 pointer from Durepos to close the gap. Canada continued the good play levelling the scoring until Australia then took a hold of the game to ensure they finished the quarter strongly edging Canada by four points for the quarter giving them a 13 point lead going into the last quarter. 38-51.
The battle continued in the final quarter with both teams not waiting to halt there unbeaten run that they can carry forward to the next stages. Making full use of the subs Australia replace the team while Richard Peter for Canada gets his forth foul of the game and therefore has to be careful for the remaining stages. As the game comes to a close Australia still have a lead with Canada pushing at the final stages trying with long range 3 pointers which were unsuccessful. Overall a deserved win for Australia with them finishing top of pool B with Poland in the next round on Wednesday. Final score 49-67.
.jpg)
