Women’s basketball fans knew that this year would be a different kind of season after the WNBA campaign wrapped up. With the Seattle Storm having won a championship, the attention of W fans turned from the Emerald City to Tenerife, Spain as the FIBA World Cup commenced.
All 16 teams were in action the first day of group play, including the United States women’s basketball team, which opened the tournament with an 87-67 victory over Senegal.
The tournament tipped off with the two other teams in Group D with Senegal and Team USA.
Latvia vs. China
Given that it is their first time in the tournament, Latvia hoped to start its FIBA World Cup history on the right foot.
Unfortunately for Latvia, their first contest was against a Chinese team that led the AsiaCup in a litany of statistical categories.
It was a close contest, but ultimately resulting in a 64-61 win for China over Latvia.
Ting Shao led her team with 15 points. Liwei Yang and Siyu Wang added 10 each.
For Latvia, Anete Steinberga scored 16 points and pulled in 11 rebounds. Elina Dikaioulaku contributed 14 points to its efforts.
Australia vs. Nigeria
The first contest that emanated from San Cristobal de La Laguna featured Australia, considered to be a major threat to Team USA’s bid for a World Cup three-peat, and a Nigeria team that were the runners-up in the Afrobasket tournament to Senegal.
The word Australia automatically brings to mind two words to women’s basketball fans.
Liz. Cambage.
As in, “Liz Cambage’s 34-point outing in Australia’s first Group play contest led the Opals to a dominant 86-68 victory over D’Tigress.”
For the Nigerian team, they had to honestly ponder if there was one Liz Cambage on the court or five. She not only tallied the 34, but grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked four shots in 26 minutes of play.
Evelyn Akhator scored 21 points and Ezinne Josephine Kalu finished with 15.
Korea vs. France
Save for the first game between Latvia and China, blowouts appeared to be the order of the day in Day 1 of the FIBA World Cup’s Group Phase.
Apparently France got the memo when it was time for it to take the court against Korea. France’s first contest resulted in an 89-58 win over Korea at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
France, though, must not have received said memo until the second quarter as after the first quarter, Korea led the French, 23-18.
France outscored Korea 48-20 over the ensuing two periods, including going 25-8 in the second quarter.
Marine Johannes led all scorers with 19 points. Three players – Endene Miyem, Sandrine Gruda, and Alexia Chartereau had 12 points each. Helena Ciak pulled in 10 rebounds.
Ji-Su Park, a Las Vegas Ace, scored 15 points and Leeseul Kang finished with 14 points off the bench. Danbi Kim aided Korea’s efforts with 13.
Turkey vs. Argentina
When Liz Cambage and Australia put the finishing touches on its blowout of Nigeria, it was time for Turkey and Argentina to take the court at San Cristobal de La Laguna.
As mentioned earlier, blowouts were the order of the day and Turkey’s rout of Argentina would be a 63-37 decision.
In similar fashion to what happened with France and Korea, Turkey outscored Argentina 32-13 in the second and third quarters.
Tilbe Senyurek scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Bahar Caglar scored 12 points and pulled in six rebounds.
Macarena Rosset scored 12 for Argentina and Andrew Boquete added 10.
Greece vs. Canada
Have Game, Will Rout was the motto of Day 1 of Group Play at the FIBA World Cup. Greece vs. Canada was no exception.
Canada is also looked at as having a major chance at dethroning Team USA off its perch, and by virtue of its 81-50 thrashing of Greece, Canada looks like a team that has the potential to do so.
And a huge reason why was the effort it put forth on the offensive glass. Canada outrebounded Greece 51-27, including a 19-8 mark for offensive rebounds.
Canada also did a great job converting those offensive boards into points. In terms of second-chance points, it was 16-5 in Canada’s favor.
Sixteen was also the number of points scored by Kim Gaucher in 18 minutes of play. Nirra Fields contributed 13, Kia Nurse added 12, and Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe finished with 11 points.
On the Greek ledger, Evanthia Maltsi scored 14 points and Maria Emmanouela Fasoula finished with 10.
Japan vs. Spain
Given the margins of some of the other games that took place on Day 1, to apply the word “rout” to the result of Spain’s first group stage matchup against Japan could be using the word a bit more loosely than necessary.
The scoring margin was 13 points entering the fourth quarter – and it was 13 points exiting the fourth quarter as Spain sent its home fans home happy via an 84-71 win over Japan.
Alba Torrens, who was named MVP of the Eurobasket Tournament, only played 12 minutes and scored five points. Marta Xargay played 31 minutes and scored 15 points. Laura Nicholls had eight rebounds. Astou Ndour scored 12 points and pulled in seven rebounds.
Spain also got plenty of production off its bench as Laura Gil and Cristina Ouvina each scored 12 points.
Notes must have been taken from the Greece-Canada tilt and Spain applied it to its contest with Japan. They outrebounded the Japanese team 40-24 and went 14-4 on the offensive glass.
Yuki Miyazawa scored 12 to lead Japan. Monica Okoye and Mika Fujitaka each finished with 11. Maki Takada and Nako Motohashi each tallied 10 points.
Puerto Rico vs. Belgium
The final game of the first day of group play would result in the largest point margin of the day when Belgium faced Puerto Rico.
We are going into the downright absurd with this one.
The final score may have been Belgium defeating Puerto Rico by a final of 86-36, but what was just as eye-opening was the halftime score.
It was 48-6 in Belgium’s favor.
48. To. 6.
Forty.
Eight.
To.
Six.
That is dominance.
And leading the way in that dominance was a 16-point, 14-rebound outing from Emma Meesseman in over 20 minutes of play. Julie Vanloo scored 17, Kyara Linskens finished with 15 and Jana Raman added 10 points off the bench.
Jennifer O’Neill paced Puerto Rico with 12 points.
