U17 World Championships move to Semis

The U17 World Championships for Women advance to the semi-final round on Saturday with the United States squaring off with Canada and Japan facing Spain.

Classification Round
Korea – Turkey 82-79
Korea: J. Shin 21, K. Kim 13, J. Park 13.
Turkey: M. Gulcan 21, E. Manlaci 18, S. Atas 16, H. Coklar 10.

Mali – Brazil 58-51
Mali: M. Maiga 18, D. N’Diaye 10.
Brazil: I. Sangalli 11, C. Lucchini 10.

Quarter-Finals
Spain – Italy 67-39
In the first quarter-final of the day in the U17 World Championships for Women, Spain slowly built a lead over the first three quarters and then ran away with the contest with a 23-9 margin in the fourth quarter. L. Quevedo paced Spain with 19 points going seven for eight from inside the arc and grabbing nine rebounds. Also for Spain, M. Lizarazu added 14 points and A. Pujol contributed 9. E. Penna dropped in eight points for Italy in the loss.

Japan – Belgium 70-64
This match-up featured the top two scorers in the tournament and they didn’t disappoint. Yunika Nakamura of Japan and Hind Ben Abdelkader were ranked one and two, respectively, coming in. Nakamura dropped in 19 and Ben Abdelkader led the Belgians with 19. Japan’s Ai Yamada led all scorers with 21 in the contest.
Belgium got the first lead with a 7-2 run off the tip. A three by Yamada followed by another by Haruka Hatakenaka gave Japan the lead that they wouldn’t give up. At the end of the first quarter the Japanese were up 28-18.
Opening the second quarter with an 11-0 run helped put the game away early, but Japan wouldn’t score much more in the rest of the half. By the time the buzzer sounded to end the half, Japan held a comfortable 42-26 margin.
Belgium didn’t come to the World Championships to let anyone run over them though and they fought back, actually winning the second half 38-28.
Ben Abdelkader picked up Belgium’s first seven points of the half and another three with 3:50 left in the quarter cut the advantage to eight. Japan extended the lead back up to 15, only to have the Belgians reduce it to nine by the end of the quarter 55-46.
Laetici Mpoyi Wa Mpoyi hit to free throws 14 seconds into the final frame to cut the lead to seven but Yamada drained a timely three-ball to push the lead back to 10 with 8:38 to play. Yamada then came down and hit a jumper, followed by two Nakamura free throws 30 seconds later and the advantage had moved up to 14, 62-48, with 7:17 to play. Belgium put a six-point run together to cut the margin to eight, 62-54, with 5:32 left. With 1:40 on the clock, Julie Allemand got two down low moving Belgium to within seven. No one could score for the next minute, until Mpoyi Wa Mpoyi split a pair of free throws, putting the game at 68-62. Japan called a time out, but Allemand stole the ball with 23 seconds left, hit Ben Abdelkader, who dropped in a jumper with 16 seconds left and a four-point deficit. Anneleen De Baets stole the ball off the press with 11 seconds left, but missed the shot inside the paint and then got called for a personal foul, which sent Yamada to the line. She sank both free throws with five seconds left to close out the scoring at 70-64.
Yamada led all scorers with 21, Nakamura added 19, and Evelyn Mawuli scored 14 and hauled in 16 rebounds. Ben Abdelkader scored 19, Mpoyi Wa Mpoyi added 11 and De Baets contributed 10.

Canada – Netherlands 56-55
In a close contest from the opening tip to the final buzzer, the Canadians sent the host squad into the classifications games to play for no higher than fifth place, while Canada will match-up with the US in the semi-finals.
Canada opened the game out in front in the first quarter 12-9 after numerous lead changes. The Netherlands settled in during the second quarter and outplayed their visitors, building a slight 26-12 margin at the end of the first half. In the third quarter the Dutch were able to build the biggest margin either team had in the contest, six points, but Canada brought it back to three, 39-36, going into the final frame.
With 6:45 to play, Laura Cornelius split a pair of free throws, but put the hosts up by six, 46-40. Canada’s Emma Wolfram hit a jumper off Saicha Grant-Allen’s rebound of the missed the free throw, and Kia Nurse duplicated the effort off another Grant-Allen rebound to cut difference to two, 46-44, with 5:53 to play. After a Britt Zappeij lay-up, Shaylisha Colley tallied six points in the paint and Nurse dropped in two free throws to put the Canadians up by four, 52-48. With 52 seconds to play Netherland’s Emese Hof hit two inside to cut the margin to one 54-53. Nurse split a pair of free throws with 35 ticks on the clock, then got fouled again with 18 seconds left and once again made the first and missed the second. Lisanne de Jonge got the rebound for the Netherlands and Cornelius converted it into two points, bringing the score to 56-55, Canada, with 11 seconds left and Canada’s ball. On the in-bounds, Klaziena Guijt fouled Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudrea, to put her on the line for two free throws with nine seconds to play. She missed both free throws and the Dutch got the rebound with four ticks remaining. Cornelius got the ball inside for the Netherlands and had her shot inside fall short at the buzzer, sending Canada to the semi-finals.
Nurse led all scorers with 18 points, while Colley and Wolfram added 13 each for the Canadians. de Jonge dropped in 13 points for the Dutch in the losing effort.

USA – Australia 89-68
The Australians jumped out to a 24-19 advantage after the first quarter of their quarter-final match-up with the US, but the Americans came back strong and finished with a 21-point margin, setting up a rematch with Canada in the semi-finals.
The US earned the lead at the end of the half by scoring eight free throws in the last 2:31 and holding the Dutch to a single basket. Going in to the intermission the Americans held a 41-37 advantage.
In the third frame the US used to 6-0 runs to extend their margin to 14, 65-51, and then outscored the Aussies 24-17 in the final stanza to put the game away.
Diamond DeShields led the US with 19 points, Mercedes Russell added 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Linnae Harper dropped in 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Australia got 21 points from Tiana Mangakahia and 19 from Abigail Wehrung. Australia with play the Netherlands in the Classification Round.

Schedule – Aug. 25
Classification Round
10:00 (GMT +2) Brazil – Turkey 66-62
12:15 Mali – Korea
14:30 Italy – Belgium
16:45 Netherlands – Australia

Semi-Finals
19:00 Canada – USA
21:15 Spain – Japan

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