WOMEN'S DAY FOUR BEIJING


On Sunday, Latvia and Korea, both locked at 1-3 with a win against Brazil, now take on each other – in a virtual play-off to decide the fourth qualifier for the last eight stage from this group.

In the third game on the final day of the women’s preliminary round, Belarus meet the winless Brazil. Belarus had beaten Brazil 86-79 in the quarterfinal of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women at Madrid.

Latvia, who pulled off a last-gasp win over Brazil in the previous game, seemed to take that momentum well into tonight’s game against Australia.

They led by a point at the first ten minutes and opened up a 30-23 lead midway through the second quarter, when the Opals captain Lauren Jackson struck form.

The Seattle Storm power forward, who was not impressed with her own game previously, scored 13 points, as the Jan Stirling-trained squad outscored their rivals 18-8 for the rest of the quarter to go into the changing rooms 41-38 ahead.

Jackson scored three of her five three-pointers for the game during that run. She went on to finish with a tournament-high 30 points.

Australia, riding on Jackson’s form, outscored their opponents 35-18 in the third quarter to gain a stranglehold on the game.

Suzy Batkovic had another impressive game for Australia with 18 points and four rebounds, while Penny Taylor showed her quality with an 11-point, 11-rebound effort.

“We were certainly challenged in a way that ultimately we’ll take a lot of positives from,” Stirling said.

“The girls were a little bit down at half-time,” she added.

“We knew that the third quarter was going to be a big one for us and I thought our defense in the third quarter was sensational. But against Russia, you have to do that for 40 minutes.”

“Of course we’re trying to get to the quarterfinals but we have to beat Korea,” Latvia point guard Zane Eglite said.

“They are a really fast team. I think maybe even faster than Japan was in Madrid (at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women). We’ll do whatever we can to win that game.”

Like in their earlier games, Russia had their backs to the walls tonight too. Trailing by two points, at the end of the third quarter, Russia ran a high-intensity fourth quarter outscoring their opponents 20-8 in the final ten minutes.

Brazil, who had snatched defeat from jaws victory twice earlier in the competition, met with a similar fate in their fourth outing too.

Tatiana Shchegoleva began the fourth quarter with a three-point play and the Russians stayed on top the rest of the way. The Spartak Moscow Region center topped the scoring for her team with 14 points.

“Don't think about us!” Shchegoleva exclaimed on the popular talks of a USA-Australia clash for the gold medal. “We have always said we were here for the medals and we will try to take gold.”

Rebecca Hammon and Maria Karpunina contributed 11 points each. Ilona Korstin stood tall under the board collecting 10 rebounds, to go with her 10 points, as Russia out-rebounded their rivals 47-28.

“Every game has been tough for us and today was no exception,” Russian forward Svetlana Abrosimova said. “It's tough. Every team is very competitive at the Olympics.”

“We are still trying to find our style, still trying to find our game. But I like the way we finish our games, somehow we find a way to win.”

Adriana Pinto, whose three-pointer gave Brazil the lead at the end of the third quarter was, hit five of her seven three-point attempts and topped the scoring for the game with 21 points.

“We are sadder today than we were after our defeat to Latvia because today we bounced back after losing three games and showed a different attitude,” Brazilian forward Ega said.

“We were ready to play and we almost surprised the European champions.”

Korea began in a breeze and were 13-2 up after six minutes in the first quarter. Belarus bounced back with a 10-0 run, but still trailed 12-15 at the end of the first ten minutes.

Belarus took the lead and then went in front by seven on a three-pointer by Katsiaryna Snytsina before a basket by Sin Jungja reduced the arrears for Korea to 33-28 at half-time. Nataliya Trafimava scored when play resumed at the beginning of the second half as Belarus hit the Koreans with an 8-0 spurt for a 41-28 lead.

They led by as many as 15 before the Koreans scaled it back to 10.

Snytsina led the way for Belarus with 15 points and Anastasiya Verameyenka had 14. Yelena Leuchanka collected 14 rebounds to go with her 10 points.

“It’s a knock-out game on Sunday,” Korean captain Jung Sun-Min said underlining the significance of the final day’s proceedings.

 

 

On Sunday in the final games of the preliminary rounds, Australia plays Russia for top spot in group A, Brazil must win over Belarus to have a chance at the quarter finals and Korea and Latvia both tied on 5 points play to decide a next round berth.  Lots of exciting games in theis group.

In group B the USA must be considered certainties against New Zealand, while China and the Czech Republic will fight for 2nd spot in this group and Spain should account for Mali to hold onto a place in the next round of games. 

Scores

Australia 96 (Lauren Jackson 30, Suzy Batkovic 18, Penny Taylor 11) bt Latvia 73 (Ieva Tare 14, Anete Jekabsone-Zogota 13, Liene Jansone 11). Quarterwise Scores: 19-18, 41-38, 76-56.

Russia 74 (Tatiana Shchegoleva 14, Rebecca Hammon 11, Maria Karpunina 11) bt Brazil 64 (Adriana Pinto 21). Quarterwise Scores: 21-26, 35-41, 54-56.

Belarus 63 (Katsiaryna Snytsina 15, Anastasiya Verameyenka 14, Tatyana Troina 12, Yelena Leuchanka 10) bt Korea 53 (Lee Mi-Sun 10, Jung Sun-Min 10). Quarterwise Scores: 12-15, 33-28, 50-37



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