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USA Wins FIBA U17 World Basketball Championship for Women
United States complete U17 sweep.
The boys did it a couple of weeks ago in Hamburg. The girls beat France today in Toulouse to grab the gold medal and become u17 World Champions. With that, the United States confirmed its authority at this level.
Team USA has been way better than its opponent during the tournament and the championship game (92-62) was not an exception. The Americans started strong (28-16) before the one and only French attempt to compete for real in this game. The host team grabbed the momentum in the beginning of the second period and took the lead (30-31) with a 2-15 run led by Alice Nayo and Sara Chevaugeon.
But that was it. 
The USA reaction came quickly. An Ariel Massengale three pointer and Elizabeth Williams inside job was the first blow. The Massengale "and 1" lay up at the buzzer to close the first half represented sort of an early knockout (50-38).
United States dominated second half playing solid defense and converting transition opportunities on offense to pull away. The French, whose World Silver is a great improvement over their Eurobasket 09 Bronze were great hosts.
A talented trio paced Team USA again.
- Ariel Massengale scored 20 points and dished 6 assists.
- Elizabeth Williams and Kaleena Lewis added 15 each.
- Sara Chevaugeon was French top scorer with 11 points.
China won the bronze medal after beating Eurobasket 09 runner-up Belgium in the third place game. The 15 year old Chinese sensational shooter Meng Li was named MVP of the tournament. Li, playing against older players, averaged 15.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and shot 43% from the arch.
Final standings:
1. United States
2. France
3. China
4. Belgium
5. Japan
6. Russia
7. Australia
8. Spain
9. Argentina
10. Turkey
11. Canada
12. Mali
NetScouts Basketball will keep travelling around Europe in order to cover all the young (U20) basketball action. Next stop will be u18 Eurobasket for men as final round of the tournament will be played next weekend in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Chris Denker, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball, and Alejandro Gonzalez each contributed to this post and can be followed on Twitter @chrisdenker and @netscouts. Special Thanks to FIBA for the photo.