Croatia beat Mozambique 84-62 in the opening game of 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women
On Monday, in the first game of the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women held here in Istanbul, Team Croatia drew the first blood by overpowering their African rivals Mozambique 84-62.
The Group C fixture was more or less decided in the first half, at the end of which the Europeans led 42-25.
Croatia were paced by 20 points from Ana Lelas. The player made good on 6 of her 9 two point attempts and also knocked down 2 daggers from beyond the arc. She was closely followed by Sandra Mandir, who came off the bench to pound
16 points on a 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, including three 3-pointers. Mandir also dished out 4 assists and grabbed 6 boards.
Jelena Ivezic dropped 4 long range bombs for 14 points while Salopek narrowly missed a double-double with 9 points and 9 rebounds, including 5 on the offensive end.
Mozambique were led by the brilliant Clarisse Machanguana, who erupted with a game high 23 points and 13 rebounds. She also made two steals in the game but struggled from the floor making only 9 of her 25 shots. Anabella Cossa
chipped in with 11 points and 7 rebounds; Leia Dongue had 9 points with 6 rebounds while A. De Azinheira came off the bench and scored 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the two point range.
The game started at a very rapid pace and both teams were locked at 4 points apiece inside one and a half minutes of play. In the passage that followed Croatia pounded 8 unanswered points to start a 23-8 run which closed the first
quarter at 27-12.
The Africans scored the first points in the second quarter, but then gave away nine consecutive points to Croatia as the lead mounted to 36-14 with 3:55 still to go till the break.
Mozambique outscored the Croatians 9-6 in the remaining first half action and trailed by 42-25 at halftime. They started the third frame on a 7-0 run to make it a 10 point game, 42-32, but any chances of a comeback were dismissed
by a 10-2 Croatian response.
Mozambique did outscore the European 11-5 going into the fourth quarter, but were not able to trouble them after the third quarter.
The Croatian side were huge from the three point range, converting 11 of their 26 attempts as compared to a meagre 3-for-17 from Mozambique. The Europeans also out-assisted Mozambique 24-11.
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