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FIBA U17 World Championships for Women

U17 Women's World Championship: favorites advance to semifinals.

No room for upsets in u17 Women's World Championship in Toulouse (France) as both top seeds #1 and #2 from the group stage won their games and will fight for the medals.

France beat Australia (69-59) in front of its fans in a tight game always managed by "les bleus."

• French versatility and balance gave them that little advantage despite a bad night from the three point line.
• Australia played pretty well but missed one of its inside stars Tayla Roberts. The center was guarded tightly with Jodie Cornelie doing a great job stopping the aussie key player.
• Power forward Gretel Tippett scored 17 points but couldn't lead her team to the victory.
• Claire Steivenard (12 points) and Sara Chevaugeon scored in transition and off dribble drive to carry France.

The big candidate to the gold medal, the United States, found no threat in Spain (86-57). The Americans closest game in the tournaments was the first one against France (70-45). 

• USA Coach Barbara Nelson and her squad used a big 2nd quarter to lead by 20 at half.
• In a balanced rotation, Kaleena Lewis led her team in scoring with 16 points.
• Maria Teresa Gonzalez had 15 for Spain.

Also an easy game for the other #1 seed. Belgium crushed Japan (93-71) displaying a great game, with quick ball distribution and individual skills.

• Center Emma Meesseman showed her talent and feel for the game sealing 23 points and 13 rebounds
• PG Julie Vanloo not only managed her team but also added 23 points.
• Yuki Miyazawa paced her team with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

In the first game of the day, China clinched semifinals after a solid win over Russia.

• China dominated the boards with tremendous size inside.
• Power forward Dong Yu was very active scoring 19 points and grabbing 9 rebounds.
• 6'5 center Mingyang Li reached a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
• Russia was led by Galina Kiseleva, who came off the bench to score 15 points and grabbed 6 rebounds
• PG Anastasia Tochilova, who added 12 points and 6 boards. 

The Semifinals will be played tomorrow. China vs. USA and Belgium vs. France...with the match-up between European border rivals taking center stage.

NetScouts Basketball will be there to keep you updated.

Chris Denker, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball, and Alejandro Gonzalez contributed to this post.  Follow them on Twitter @netscouts and @chrisdenker.

U17 FIBA World Basketball Championship for Women

USA and France will fight for the gold in Toulouse

It was a great day of basketball in u17 World Championship for Women semifinals. Two good and tight games, showing both extremes of basketball.

The first game was a high scoring type of game. The United States beat China 97-74 but it wasn't as easy as the final score tells at all. The Americans faced their toughest opponent so far as China resisted until the last period through effort & outside shooting.

• Team USA took the lead and managed the game since the very beginning, dominating the boards (57-30 including 22 offensive rebounds) and working the offense to easy shots in every possession.
• China struggled to stop the USA "scoring trio"
• PG Ariel Massengale displayed versatility, direction and solid mid/long range shooting with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
• 16 year old SG Breanna Stewart drove to the basket well and added 17 points and 11 rebounds.
• Inside, Elizabeth Williams completed the trio with 14 points and 11 rebounds despite a hard hit on her head which took her away from the court for a few minutes.

China shot it extremely well from distance with 11 threes made before halftime (54-48), including 6 out of 8 from the sharp shooter Meng Li. The Chinese size wasn't working as well against the American athleticism and Dong Yu and Mingyang Li collected only 7 points and 9 rebounds between them. As the game wore on China's legs went and the shots stopped falling.  The final margin doesn't show how hard and well the Chinese played today. Meng Li ended the game with 22 points and 6/12 from the arch.

The second game wasn't that brilliant and entertaining but a tight one. Solid defense and shaky, perhaps nervous offense as both teams were hoping to advance. France topped Belgium (54-49) in front of its home fans.

• Olivia Epoupa was the key player of the game. The athletic PG played a superb game, taking the responsibility in the last minutes, when Belgium cut the gap to three points and was trying to grab the momentum. With her direction and drives to the basket, Epoupa reached 18 points, adding 11 rebounds and 5 assists in a terrific effort.
• Christelle Diallo scored 16 points and joined Jodie Cornelie at the defensive end stopping the Belgium inside game.

The talented Belgian center Emma Meesseman struggled against physical defense and couldn't get it going offensively.  She managed only 12 points on 16 shots, and 9 rebounds.

France and United States will meet in the Championship game tomorrow. The game will start at 5.30 pm CET.

Chris Denker, Managing Partner of NetScouts, and Alejandro Gonzalez contributed to this post.  Follow @netscouts and @chrisdenker on Twitter.

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.

European Basketball Signings This Week

There were several big name signees throughout Europe from various NCAA, NBA, and Euroleague teams this week...

SPAIN

Barcelona resigned Pete Mickeal (Cincy).  Mickeal was a key contributor to the FCB success this past season.

CB Granada signed Russian forward Yaroslav Korolev who was a 1st Round Draft Pick (LAC) and recently played in the NBA Summer League Las Vegas.

Real Madrid signed center D'Or Fischer, last at Maccabi Tel Aviv.  This is a good pick up for RM.

Basquet Menorca signed 2-time MVP of LEB Gold, Joakim Donaldson.

Valladolid signed Jason Robinson, last with Melilla Baloncesto (LEB Gold).

Caja Laboral signed Marcus Haislip.  Hoping to ease the loss of All-EL performer Tiago Splitter who went to the San Antonio Spurs (NBA).

Gran Canaria 2014 signed Spencer Nelson, last at Peristeri.

Gran Canaria also signed Taurean Green (Florida) to a two-year contract.

Menorca Basquet signed Rafa Huertas, who last played at CB Melilla.

Murcia signed Taj Gray, last at Chalon in France.  A good sign for the LEB Gold team.

GERMANY

The Artland Dragons signed Boston College PG Tyrese Rice, a lefty scoring guard who last played for Panionios.  A good acquisition for the new coach.

The Dragons also signed Bryan Bailey who played last season for EWE Baskets Oldenburg.

Telekom Baskets Bonn signed Arizona’s Nick Wise.

ISRAEL

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv signed Alabama’s Mikhail Torrance who played very well in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

Nymburk signed Chester "Tre" Simmons, who had a nice season last year at Hapoel Jerusalem in Israel.

Galil Gilboa signed Tyler Wilkerson (Marshall)

Maccabi Rishon signed Denis Clemente (Kansas State/Puerto Rico).

Another note from Israeli basketball: The Tokyo Apache (Japan) signed former San Diego high school player Jeremy Tyler, who left school early and played a portion of the season with Maccabi Haifa in Israel.  He left the team late in the year after not playing very much.

ITALY

Siena signed point guard Bo McCalebb to a three year deal who is coming off a great season.

Verona (site of Romeo and Juliet's balcony) signed shooter/"point guard" A.J. Abrams from Texas.

Scavolini Pesaro has signed Morris Almond, last at Real Madrid...the experiment apparently didn't work out.

Montepaschi Siena signed Rimas Kaukenas, last at Real Madrid.

Montepaschi Siena signed former Oregon Duck and San Antonio Spurs SG Malik Hairston to a two year deal...he joins Maarty Leunen & Luke Jackson as Ducks in Italy.

Scavolini Pesaro signed USC’s Daniel Hackett.

Sutor Montegranaro signed Bobby Jones (UW). 

TURKEY

Bornova re-signed Tennessee’s Tyler Smith.

Aliaga Petkim signed Cal’s Jerome Randle who was MVP of the PIT in Portsmouth but curiously played for the Washington Wizards (John Wall) in the NBA Summer League Las Vegas.

Aliaga Petkim signed Houston’s Aubrey Coleman.

Efes Pilsen signed Lawrence Roberts to a one-year contract.  Roberts is coming off a nice year with Partizan.

Chris Denker is Managing Partner of NetScouts and can be followed on Twitter @chrisdenker.