Brazil obviously learned from Fiji’s game against Spain and used a running game to start and this combined with the big inside presence of Kelly Santos quickly gave them a lead in the first few minutes.  At 4 minutes with the score at 16-8 in favour of Brazil, Fiji was doing a reasonable job considering the huge difference in quickness, athleticism and size.  The fact that most of Coach Whippy’s starters played many minutes in yesterday’s game against Spain showed early as most of the players were displaying signs of fatigue toward the end of the first quarter.  

Fiji has no answer to the domination of Brazil’s big players in Kelly and Grazienne in the lane and they also controlled the boards at will.  Fiji’s Matila Waqandrola tried valiantly inside against Brazil’s big players as did Moce and Mareta Mani and Loma Mataika also contributed off the bench but the sheer height and body size of the Brazilian “bigs” took its toll with Waqandrola in early foul trouble on 3 fouls. 

To their credit Fiji did not give up and their defensive transition was much better than yesterday.  Also their offence had more purpose and was reflected in their ability to score more frequently.  It was a hard lesson to learn but a valuable one and the Fiji team followed the coaches’ instructions to play their own style of game and not get caught up in Brazil’s style.

At the end of the 1^st quarter Brazil had a comfortable lead of 29-12, with Kelly banging in 7 points and star guard Iziane giving the Fijian’s a scoring lesson with 11 points, including 3 from behind the arc.  For Fiji Nainima contributed 7 and Mani and Letava Whippy 2 a piece.

In the 2^nd quarter the Fiji team fared better during the first 5 minutes scoring 9 to Brazil’s 14, however fatigue in the last 5 minutes showed with Brazil scoring 17 points to end the quarter at 60-24.  Coach Whippy did not rest Nainima. Mikaelar Whippy and Letava Whippy until the last minute of the entire game and while they battled as best they could, their tiredness was evident.  In this quarter Brazil’s replacement guard, Karla Martins de Costa shot 10 points with Jucimara (Mama) Dantas hitting 14.  The widespread scoring power of the Brazilian team was difficult for the smaller Fijian’s to stop.

The 3^rd quarter saw a blow-out in the scores by the Brazilians against the tired Fiji team, adding 36 points for the quarter.  Iziane came back into the game to add 17 points to her tally and Kelly helped herself to another 8.  By now Letava Whippy had scored 8 and Moce and Mani added a respectable 7 points each.

To this point of the game in the rebounding department Fiji fared reasonably well despite the huge size disadvantage pulling in 25 to Brazil’s 37.  For Fiji Letava Whippy, Nainima and Moce combined for 19 of these.   

In the last quarter Brazil dominated over the very tired Fijians who were only able to score 4 points.  By contrast Brazil added 19 points of which Iziane helped herself to a further 10 and Mama added 6.  The final rebound score of 55 to 30 showed the tenacity of the smaller Fijians and the total turnover rate of 27 to 16 indicated the superior skills of the Brazilians. 

For Brazil Iziane had the game high score of 28, followed by Mama with 22, Karla 18, and Kelly 15.  For Fiji their main scorers were Nainima with 17, Letava Whippy 11 and Moce and Mani with 7 a piece.

Scores by quarter                    1^st qtr               2^nd qtr              3^rd qtr               4^th qtr               Final

Fiji                                           12                    24                    41                    45                    45

Brazil                                       29                    60                    96                    125                  125