China, Russia, Canada Seal Wins: FIBA U-19 World Championship for Women July 27 Roundup (Part 1)
Japan 59 – 87 China
In a Group E fixture, China brought their A-game against the Japanese and defeated them by a significant margin. The highlight for China was their power forward, Xueya Ma, who netted 24 points, grabbed an amazing 19 rebounds and
made 2 superb blocks. She also scored 8 out of 10 of her free throws at 80% shooting.
Shooting guard, Xi Yang, also contributed 18 points and 16 rebounds for China. Dong Yu chipped in with a healthy tally of 17 points and 8 rebound as well. The Japanese were led by Shiori Takada, their shooting guard, scoring 11
points and 6 rebounds.
China got off to a strong start and never looked in any trouble. By half time, the Chinese led by 10 points as the scoreboard displayed 29-39. Dominant third and fourth quarters saw China extend their lead to 28 points by the time
the final whistle blew.
Russia 62 – 55 Italy
In a closely fought contest, Russia managed to edge past Italy in a Group E game. Alexandra Stolyar, the shooting guard for team Russia, scored 21 points and made 2 steals. However, the star for Russia was centre Ksenia Tikhonenko,
who scored 6 points, registered 22 rebounds (19 defensive) and made 4 blocks.
The Italians gave a tough competition as Guilia Maffenini scored 20 points and caught 5 defensive rebounds. The start of the match was dominated by the Italians, who took a 3 point lead in the first quarter. The Italians continued
to dominate and by half time the score read 32-18 in favour of the Italians. However, a resilient Russian team came storming back into the match in the third quarter and took a lead of 3 going into the fourth. The Russians continued their momentum and took
the game home.
USA 52 – Canada 64
Group E saw a major upset yesterday as Canada triumphed over the in-form United States team. Michelle Plouffe led the Canadian charge with points and 8 rebounds. She was accurate with her three point shooting as she managed 3/4
from behind the arc.
Wumi Agunbiade, the Canadian power forward, also scored 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Only Ariel Massengale, the USA point guard, displayed worthy figures of 17 points and 6 rebounds for team USA.
Canada dominated the first quarter and took a lead of 10 points early on. USA fought back and cut Canada’s lead to just 2 points by the end of the third quarter as the score read 39-41. However, Canada repeated their first quarter
performance in the last quarter and comfortably secured the game.
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