USA and Argentina win big: FIBA U-19 World Championship for Women July 26 Roundup (Part 1)
Italy 60 - 94 USA
In a Group E fixture on Tuesday, the current three time defending champions, USA, decimated the Italians 90-64. Cierra Burdick, the USA power forward, was the most effective player on her team as she amassed 17 points and 9 rebounds. She scored 7 of 8 of her free throws at 87.5%. All her statistics were accumulated in just 19 minutes.
The other USA forward, Breanna Stewart, also made a healthy contribution with 15 points and 4 rebounds. She spent only 13 minutes on the pitch in which she landed 7 of 9 two pointers at 77.9 %.
From the Italian side, the only significant role was played by their small forward Irene Cigliani. She bucketed 11 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.
The game was never a tough contest as USA ended the first quarter with a lead of 18 points. By halftime, the score read 28-51 in favour of the North Americans. From there on in, team USA continued to widen the margin, which grew to around 34 points, by the time the game ended.
Judging by their performance so far, the Americans are once establishing themselves as favourites to win this years’U19 championship and are looking strong as this was their 5th consecutive victory in this tournament.
Argentina 89 – 69 Slovenia
In another comfortable victory, Argentina destroyed Slovenia. Argentinean point guard, Melisa Gretter, spearheaded the attack and scored 25 points along with 5 assists. She played an equally important role in defense as she grabbed 7 defensive rebounds in total.
Rocio Diaz was also in her groove as she managed to score 22 points along with 2 rebounds. Two Argentine players scoring more than 20 points helped Argentina amass a huge total of 89 points.
The game saw Nika Baric lead a one woman army against a tough Argentine side. The Slovenian point guard nailed 27 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and sprayed 4 assists in her 36 minutes on the court. However, her efforts went in vain as she received little or no support from the rest of her teammates.
The game started evenly with Slovenia taking a 2 point lead by the end of the first quarter. Argentina bounced back in the second quarter and took a 4 point lead to set up an exciting second half. Slovenia rallied from behind and levelled the scores at 63-63, at the end of the third quarter.
An enthralling finish was expected to this high paced match; however, the Slovenian side lost total control and broke down. Slovenia only managed to score 6 points in the last quarter against Argentina’s 26.
Unable to keep their poise, the Slovenians eventually succumbed to a 20 point defeat, which was a bit unfair considering the fight put up by the Europeans.
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