With the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers in the books, we now know the 12 teams that will take its talents to Tokyo this summer with the goal of winning gold medals. Japan already qualified by virtue of it being the host nation.
Headlining that field is defending FIBA World Cup champions and gold medalists of the last six summer Olympics – Team USA, whom had already qualified for the Olympics after winning in 2018’s World Cup.
Joining the USA and Japan will be Australia, Canada, Belgium, Spain, China, Puerto Rico, Nigeria, Korea, Serbia and France. Eight of these teams participated in the tournament at Rio 2016 with the exceptions being Belgium, Puerto Rico, Nigeria and Korea.
If one looked at the USA’s performance at the qualifiers, you would not have known it had already punched its Olympic ticket. Team USA opened up the qualifiers against Serbia and defeated Serbia by a final of 88-69.
A’ja Wilson led all scorers with 16 points coming off the bench and also managed seven rebounds. Skylar Diggins-Smith finished with 15 points. Also off the bench was Brittney Griner who scored 14 and hauled in six rebounds. Sylvia Fowles scored 10 in addition to six rebounds.
The Stars and Stripes got a healthy dose of ball movement courtesy of its Seattle Storm contingency. Sue Bird and Jewell Loyd each sent out eight assists.
For Serbia, Ana Dabovic and Jelena Brooks each scored 13 with Sasa Cado also scoring 12. Tina Krajisnik contributed 11 points.
Miljana Bojovic dished out six assists and Sonja Vasic added six rebounds. Bird and Loyd had nearly as many assists as the entire Serbian team. They had 16 of its 33 while Serbia as a team had 17.
Compared to what the USA did to Mozambique in its following contest, its game against Serbia was a nail-biter.
Team USA has been the best team in the world for quite a while now. They looked the part by almost tripling Mozambique with that final score being 124-49. That is more than the USA’s 121-56 rout of Senegal in the Olympics four years ago.
Nneka Ogwumike led the Americans with 24 points and nine rebounds. Wilson scored 16 in this game in addition to seven rebounds and five assists. Griner scored 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds and rejected a pair of Mozambique attempts. Loyd along with Breanna Stewart each scored 11 points with Loyd also adding seven rebounds and five assists. Katie Lou Samuelson also scored 10 points.
Leia Dongue scored 10 points and also had nine rebounds for Mozambique.
The USA’s final test of the FIBA Qualifiers actually was a nail-biter … and had to make Stars and Stripes fans nervous. It was against Nigeria that notably garnered plenty of headlines at the 2018 FIBA World Cup.
D’Tigress was anything but intimidated by the Americans – as shown by the fact that they had raced out to a 40-26 lead over Team USA at the half. Nigeria even outscored the USA 19-6 in the second quarter.
Nigeria also led 57-50 after three quarters and was within one period of what would have been a monumental upset. Team USA stepped up to the plate and outdid Nigeria 26-14 in the fourth quarter en route to a 76-71 win to close the FIBA Qualifiers.
Team USA had no Stewie for this one, but it did have depth that included Griner and her 18 points and four rebounds. It also had Chelsea Gray and her 12 points with seven assists as well as Samuelson who scored 10 points in just over 14 minutes. Ogwumike ended her game with 11 points and five rebounds.
Ezinne Kalu led D’Tigress with 17 points, eight assists and four rebounds. Victoria Macaulay would finish with 12 points and six rebounds. Evelyn Akhator added 10 points and four rebounds.
Both teams were tied at 70 with just over a minute to play before a layup by Wilson gave Team USA a 72-70 lead. Atonye Nyingifa was fouled by Samuelson to put her at the line, but she only made one of her two free throw tries. Two each from Griner and Gray accounted for Team USA’s final points of the game.
One detail of that win for Team USA over Mozambique is that it already clinched an Olympic berth for Nigeria, which earlier also defeated Mozambique 85-51 earlier in the tournament.
Leading the way for D’Tigress was Promise Amukamara and her 14 points and five rebounds. She also dished out three assists in 22 minutes of playing time off the bench. Kalu scored 11 in addition to five assists and Adaora Elonu, one of Nigeria’s starters, had 10 points to go along with four assists.
Dongue was once again the featured player for Mozambique as she scored 16 points and had five rebounds. Delma Zita finished with nine points.
It would be Nigeria’s lone victory of the tournament as its contest with Serbia also concluded with not the desired result for Otis Hughley’s team.
Nigeria made it close after trailing 59-46 following three frames. Still, Hughley’s D’Tigress came up short against Serbia after a 70-64 final.
Serbia’s starting five carried the load in this one. A grand total of 61 of Serbia’s 70 points came courtesy of its starting five, led by Vasic who had 21 points and seven rebounds as well as Brooks who tallied 17 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Dabovic scored 11 points with four rebounds and four assists. As a team, Serbia was a perfect 20 for 20 from the free throw line.
Nigeria went 11 for 16 from the charity stripe, but were helped by Kalu’s 20 points as well as Amukamara’s 15 points and four rebounds. Elonu led D’Tigress’ rebounding efforts with six.
Serbia qualified for the Rio Games via the FIBA Qualifiers and qualified for the Tokyo Games also via the Rio Qualifiers. The host nation hopes to take this momentum from its qualifiers into Tokyo after a commanding 76-48 win over Mozambique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-S1BzIwD8w
The dominating effort came along with a balanced scoring effort from Serbia. Its leading scorer was Dabovic with 12 in addition to six assists and three steals. Vasic finished with 11 and Krajisnik scored 10.
Anabela Cossa had nearly half of the Mozambique point output as she tallied 21. Tamara Seda notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Dongue, who put up impressive numbers otherwise this tournament, was held to only four points against Serbia.
Coming away with All-Star Five honors from this group were Nneka Ogwumike (USA), A’ja Wilson (USA), Ana Dabovic (Serbia), Leia Dongue (Mozambique) and Ezinne Kalu (Nigeria). The MVP went to Ogwumike.
The Belgrade leg of the tournament had a Group A as well as a Group B. That Group B was supposed to take place in China, but was moved to Belgrade by FIBA due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The late-breaking circumstances of the tournament did not faze China one bit. The Chinese began its FIBA qualifying slate against Great Britain and claimed an 86-76 victory to knock off Team GB.
Chema Buceta’s team was without both Kristine Anigwe and Chantel Charles. Team GB stayed around with China despite being down two players (China was without Wu Tongtong and Zhang Ru) but had three players that scored 16 points each in Shao Ting, Li Meng and Han Xu (who also had five rebounds and three blocks off the bench). Ting also added four assists. Wang Siyu finished with 14 points and five rebounds as well as three assists. Li Yuan scored 13 points in addition to three assists.
Temi Fagbenle led Team GB’s efforts with 26 points, five assists and four steals. Johannah Leedham scored 19 points, distributed six assists and hauled in five rebounds to go along with three steals. Chantelle Handy scored 11 points off the Great Britain bench.
China clinched its Olympic ticket in one of the closer games of the tournament, but it was to be expected when facing off against Spain. When these two teams met at the Rio Olympics, it was a Spain rout with the final being 89-68.
This one was anything but a rout. And it would be the Chinese that eked out a 64-62 victory over Spain.
It appeared as if it would be a China rout after leading 34-21 at halftime and 52-38 with three quarters in the books. With over a minute to play, Alba Torrens converted a Li Meng turnover into a layup, tying the contest up at 61. After she was fouled by Yang Liwei, Torrens made one of two from the line, giving Spain the lead. Ting swung the game back in China’s favor as her ensuing two made it a 63-62 game.
With nine seconds to play, Ting was fouled by Laia Palau, but made only one of two from the stripe, meaning China could tie with a layup. Spain had several chances, but none went through the basket as China clinched its berth to the Olympics.
Yueru and Meng each scored 13 points with Yueru also grabbing 15 rebounds in a winning China effort. Ting finished with nine points and seven rebounds while Liwei also scored nine points in addition to grabbing four rebounds.
Torrens scored 17 points and was seven of 16 from the field. Laura Nicholls finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Palau distributed eight assists.
Neither team shot particularly well from behind the arc. Spain only went 27 from downtown while China was less than 15 percent from 3-point land. China actually attempted 20 free throws and made 16. Spain only tried nine from the free-throw line.
With the win over Spain in the books, China looked poised to leave Serbia unblemished. The Chinese did just that – and in dominating fashion to boot as it closed its portion of the FIBA Qualifiers with a 100-60 win over Korea.
Meng led the way with 20 points, five assists and four rebounds. Xu scored 16 points and was seven of 12 from the field. She also pulled in eight rebounds. Huang Sijing came off the bench and scored 15 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists. Liwei had six assists while Ting also sent out five assists.
Ajeong Kang was the only Korean player with a double-digit point output as she led her team with 17 points. Han Byul Kim was big on the glass with 10 boards.
Korea was one of the teams that came out of its group having qualified for the Olympics as well, but its lone win of the FIBA Qualifiers came in a close contest with Team GB by a final score of 82-79.
As it turned out, this game followed a similar script as China vs. Spain. Korea led Team GB 70-54 entering the fourth quarter, but the British were not ready by any stretch to chalk this one up as a loss.
Late in that fourth quarter, Great Britain trailed 80-64 prior to a 15-0 Team GB run which got the British within one at 80-79. Despite a steal by Karlie Samuelson, Ji Su Park stole it right back before Kang was fouled by Fagbenle, who made both tries from the line.
Following a timeout, Rachael Vanderwal attempted a game-tying three with seven seconds remaining, but it was not to be as this one went to Korea.
One may have thought fatigue could set in late for Korea as it was down nearly half its roster and only had one player on its bench. Kang scored 26 points and played the full 40 minutes. Hyejin Park scored 17 points and sent out six assists while also playing the full 40. Danbi Kim tallied 16 points with six rebounds and six assists and also played the full 40. Ji Su Park scored 15 and nearly finished with a double-double with nine rebounds as well as three steals.
Fagbenle led all scorers with 28 points in addition to six rebounds and five assists. Leedham finished with 21 points and 10 assists for a double-double in addition to six rebounds. Samuelson scored 14 points and her nine rebounds got her one board shy of a double-double of her own while Cheridene Greene scored 10 points and hauled in six rebounds.
Korea had 10 blocked shots to only one for Team GB and shot 59 percent from behind the arc. Britain won the offensive rebounding battle 23-9, outdid Korea on points off turnovers (18-11), fast break points (10-0), second chance points (20-13) and points in the paint (32-20).
If not the game with China, Spain would have been the team from Group B in Serbia that would have left unscathed. When a team is able to put it together on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, good things happen.
That was the case for Spain when it matched up with Korea and it resulted in an 83-46 victory.
Spain’s presence on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor were very pronounced in the second and third quarters. Between the second and third frames, Spain’s scoring margin over Korea was 44-16.
Leonor Rodriguez scored 14 points with four rebounds off the bench. Palau finished with 10 points along with four steals. Cristina Ouvina grabbed seven rebounds and Silvia Dominguez contributed six assists.
Hyejin Park scored 17 points with four rebounds and Ji Su Park added 10 also with four rebounds. Kim grabbed six off the glass.
Spain’s get-together with Great Britain was significant as it resulted in both it and Korea clinching berths to the Tokyo Games. The Spanish closed its leg of the FIBA qualifying tournament in strong fashion by virtue of its 79-69 besting of the British.
Outside of the second quarter, the two European teams matched each other virtually point for point except in the second quarter when Spain outscored Great Britain 22-14 to go ahead 40-30 heading into halftime.
Maria Conde scored 15 points off the bench. Laura Gil and Laura Nicholls each scored 11 points with Gil’s also coming with seven rebounds while Marta Xargay finished with 10 points off the bench. Palau finished with eight assists.
Britain was once again without Anigwe in addition to Chantel Charles and Hannah Shaw. Fagbenle led all scorers with 21 points and six rebounds. Leedham managed a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds in addition to six assists. Handy scored 14 points and Samuelson finished with 13.
Spain won despite shooting a less-than-stellar 18 percent from behind the 3-point line. Spain had four blocked shots, scored 22 points off turnovers, outdid Great Britain in points in the paint (44-30) and depth off the bench (38-16).
Li Meng (China), Han Xu (China), Hyejin Park (Korea), Temi Fagbenle (GB) and Alba Torrens (Spain) were this group’s All-Star Five and Meng was this group’s MVP.
Host nation France and the Australian Opals may have been considered the class of the portion of the tournament that took place in Bourges. Of course, only one team can leave its group undefeated and we got to see early which likely would when France and Australia renewed pleasantries.
The home court advantage was a boost for France as it defeated the Opals 72-63 in front of its home fans.
Sandrine Gruda scored 16 points and also pulled in 11 rebounds for a double-double. Much of France’s remaining scoring output came from its New York Liberty connection of Bria Hartley and Marina Johannes. Hartley had 13 points with eight assists and seven rebounds with three steals and Johannes finished with 12 points.
More than half of Australia’s point output came courtesy of two players – Rebecca Allen and Liz Cambage. Allen scored 20 points with four rebounds and four assists. Cambage managed 19 points and 20 rebounds.
The Opals were hurt by 18 turnovers and France converted those into 16 points. The depth of the French also was an advantage as the host nation scored 22 points off the bench in addition to nine steals.
Fresh off its win over Australia, the next test for France was Brazil, the host nation of the last Olympics.
Home court advantage did Brazil no favors four years ago in Rio and its international hard luck continued against the French via the 89-72 decision that clinched France’s berth to the Olympics.
Gruda led all scorers with 26 points as well as eight rebounds which led all rebounders. Johannes added 17 points and five assists off the bench. Helena Ciak scored 10 more off the bench along with four rebounds. Epoupa brought in five rebounds.
Tati Pacheco paced Brazil with 15 points.
Ball movement made a difference for France. The French had 23 assists to only 11 for Brazil and scored 48 points in the paint to Brazil’s 34.
France also shot nearly 36 percent from behind the arc to only 15 for Brazil.
The French fans were sent home happy as a result of their home team’s performance in this year’s FIBA Qualifiers. And for France, the victories simply became more and more lopsided.
Ask Puerto Rico, which ended up on the receiving end of an 89-51 thrashing at the hands of France.
Gruda led all scorers with 20 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Endene Miyem scored 17 points to go with five rebounds. Johannes tallied 16 points with five rebounds. Sarah Michel sent out seven assists. Hartley was a defensive presence with three steals.
Isalys Quinones scored 17 points to lead Puerto Rico. Ali Gibson added 10 points with four rebounds. Jennifer O’Neill brought in five rebounds and Pamela Rosado distributed four assists. Jazmon Gwathmey finished with three steals.
While Puerto Rico drew tough outings against France and Australia, it also faced Brazil – and as things turned out, it was the game against Brazil that made all the difference in its efforts to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
Fortunes were appearing promising for Brazil as it led Puerto Rico after three quarters. With around three minutes remaining, Brazil led Puerto Rico 80-74 prior a made three from Gibson as she was fouled by Taina Paixao.
Gibson made the free throw, completing the four-point play. Quinones made a layup which tied the contest up at 80.
With 12 seconds left to elapse in regulation, Pamela Rosado drew a foul on Debora Costa, placing Rosado at the line for two tries. She made one of two, knotting it all up at 83. Patty Teixeira tried to win it with a three, but it was not to be.
In overtime, Puerto Rico began the free period having embarked on a 7-0 scoring binge as Brazil went scoreless prior to a three from Teixiera with over a minute remaining. Another three from Costa made it a one-point game. Costa fouled O’Neill with two seconds to go. She made the first, then missed the second and grabbed her own rebound to put the game away.
O’Neill led all scorers with 30 points in addition to six rebounds and three assists. Gibson came off the bench with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Gwathmey tallied 15 points and hauled in eight rebounds plus three steals. Rosado scored 10 points. Tayra Melendez sent out five assists.
Damiris Dantas led Brazil with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Teixiera finished with 19 points while going seven of 12 from the field. Erika De Souza scored 15 points and collected eight boards. Paixao and Costa each had 10 points. Costa also collected nine rebounds and Paixao managed six.
Puerto Rico’s victory over Brazil may have unofficially been the difference in its Olympics aspirations, but its ensuing game came against a team that was likely going to qualify for Tokyo 2020 regardless.
Puerto Rico went from the thrill of victory by completing its upset over Brazil to its game with the Opals, where Australia hit the century mark in a 100-74 decision.
Cambage led the charge for Australia with 31 points and six rebounds. Ezi Magbegor added 15 points and four rebounds. Rebecca Allen finished with 12 points and six rebounds while Cayla George had 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Leilani Mitchell contributed nine points with seven assists.
Magbegor may have had 15 points off the bench for the Opals, but Puerto Rico had 16 points off its bench as a team. Gwathmey scored 30 points in addition to five rebounds. O’Neill tallied 14 points, collected five rebounds and spread out three assists. Rosado finished with 12 points.
Puerto Rican fans may have been rooting against Australia when their team did battle with the Opals, but were cheering for Australia when they took on Brazil. The Opals were favored in this one and an Australia win would not only punch its ticket to the Olympics, but Puerto Rico’s as well (for the first time).
Australia delivered by way of an 86-72 win to dispatch Brazil from the FIBA Qualifiers with no wins.
This game could have gone either way with the Opals only leading Brazil 61-60 after three periods. Australia began the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run before Brazil answered with eight unanswered points of its own, closing the gap to 72-68. The Opals scored 14 of the game’s final 18 points to put this one in the record books.
Cambage finished the tournament with a 29-point outing plus seven rebounds. Mitchell scored 19 points and dished out four assists. Allen scored 16 points and was six of nine from the field.
Dantas scored 21 points and finished with six rebounds. Paixao contributed 20 points to the Brazil cause while De Souza added 17 points and nine rebounds to Brazil’s efforts. Costa also dished out 10 assists and nabbed three steals.
All-Star Five honors were bestowed upon Sandrine Gruda (France), Bria Hartley (France), Liz Cambage (Australia), Rebecca Allen (Australia) and Jazmon Gwathmey (Puerto Rico) with Gruda claiming the MVP.
As the host country, Japan has already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and wants to put forth a good showing in front of its home fans this summer. But Japan also wanted to put its best foot forward at the FIBA Qualifiers in Belgium – and it got started on the right foot by defeating Sweden in blowout fashion with the final score being 75-54.
Sweden led 12-10 after the first quarter, but the rest of the game belonged to the Olympic hosts. The Japanese outscored the Swedes 65-42 for the remainder of the contest en route to an opening game win.
Ramu Tokashiki began the FIBA Qualifiers with a 21-point, 12-rebound outing. Nako Motohashi scored 18 points and six assists. Sanae Motokawa scored 16 points and also had five rebounds.
Kalis Loyd led Sweden with 18 points. Amanda Zahui B added 12 points and eight rebounds. Binta Drammeh collected six rebounds.
Among the areas where Japan was superior to Sweden was in ball movement (14 assists to Sweden’s seven), points in the paint (40-26) and bench points (21-13).
The Olympic hosts’ next tilt featured Japan and a FIBA qualifier host Belgium team that was in search of its first victory of the qualifiers. In this get-together of international tournament hosts, the FIBA hosts prevailed over the Olympic hosts as it would be a 92-84 decision in favor of the Belgian Cats.
Things got interesting in the fourth quarter as Japan blazed a comeback trail. Belgium led Japan by as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter before Japan rallied – primarily by way of the 3-point shot – to close to within one point as the Belgian Cats’ lead was trimmed to 85-84.
Belgium, particularly Julie Allemand and Emma Meesseman made their ways to the free throw line to make five of their final seven points as Belgium earned its first victory of the tournament.
Meesseman scored 23 points and collected seven rebounds in addition to five assists. Allemand and Jana Raman each scored 16 points. Allemand distributed seven assists and Raman managed six rebounds. Kyara Linskens contributed 14 points and five rebounds. Kim Mestdagh scored 10 points as well.
Saki Hayashi scored 24 points off the bench. Moeko Nagaoka finished with 13 points and Tokashiki scored 11 points in addition to five rebounds. Asami Yoshida had seven assists in addition to six each from Rui Machida (who also had three steals) and Motohashi (who also had five rebounds).
Japan was 19-6 in fast break points and in bench points 42-24, but Belgium outscored Japan in the paint 50-22.
Japan’s story of this tournament will be one where they could have easily finished 3-0. Japan crushed Sweden, lost in a close game to Belgium and had another close contest against Canada.
And the result against the Canadians was similar to the result against Belgium as Canada eked out a 70-68 victory over Japan.
Canada’s largest lead of the game was nine while Japan’s biggest edge was five. Japan on a few occasions in the fourth quarter came to within one score of tying the game, but it was not to be.
With 10 seconds remaining, Tokashiki found Hayashi who drained a three to make it a 69-68 game with Canada still leading. Machida fouled Bridget Carleton who made one of two from the line for Canada to assume a 70-68 lead. An attempted three from Hayashi would be no good, sealing the Canada win.
Kia Nurse led Canada with 19 points. Natalie Achonwa finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Miah-Marie Langlois contributed five assists and three steals. Miranda Ayim also had five rebounds.
Hayashi scored 21 points to go along with five rebounds. Motohashi finished with 10 points and four assists. Tokashiki collected nine rebounds.
Speaking of rebounds, Canada won the battle on the offensive glass by a margin of 11-5. Japan had a 22-12 edge in fast break points, but Canada scored 23 points off Japan turnovers and those offensive rebounds turned into nine second chance points in addition to 10 steals to only four for Japan.
Prior to the Belgian Cats getting in the win column with its victory over Japan, the FIBA host country took on Canada in both teams’ opening game of the qualifiers.
As hosts, every game would practically be as if it were a home game for Belgium. It did not matter in the opener when the clock hit triple zeroes as Canada began its slice of the FIBA Qualifying Tournament with a 61-56 over the Belgian Cats.
Canada had success getting out in transition and in establishing a presence in the paint. The Canadians scored 14 fast break points to only four for Belgium and got 26 points in the paint to a mere eight for Belgium.
Nurse finished with 19 points and three steals. Kayla Alexander scored 12 points off the bench. Bridget Carleton brought in six rebounds (with three steals) as did Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe.
Meesseman finished with 14 points and six rebounds along with a pair of steals. Mestdagh had 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Linskens had six rebounds and Raman had four. Allemand finished with four assists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX3zbMkAv0Y
After the win over Belarus, Canada knew that what stood in between them and qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was its get-together with the Swedish team that was on the receiving end of the 75-54 result with Japan.
This one was not in much doubt, particularly when Canada poured it on the second half. And as a result, the Canadians will be Tokyo bound as the team defeated Sweden by a final of 80-50.
In the second half, it was all Canada all the time. Canada outscored Sweden 43-19 after only leading by six (37-31) at halftime.
Canada outdoing Sweden in offensive rebounds 14-8 led to them outscoring the Swedes 16-2 in second-chance points. In addition, more than half (43) of Canada’s points came from the bench to only nine for Sweden and they got 34 points in the paint to 22 for Sweden. Also, Canada out-assisted Sweden 17-7.
Achonwa finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Shaina Pellington tallied 11 points and four rebounds off the bench. Nurse scored 10 points. Alexander also had five rebounds and Raincock-Ekunwe finished with four assists.
Frida Eldebrink finished with 14 points. Loyd scored 12 points and had four rebounds. Elin Eldebrink scored 11 points. Louice Halvarsson had six rebounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny1J_Om40SY
Speaking of teams looking to qualify for their first Olympics – Belgium is another one of those teams.
The task ahead of the Belgian Cats was to defeat Sweden and a trip to Tokyo would be in the works. It was no easy task, but Belgium, by way of a strong third quarter, dispatched Sweden by a final of 61-53 and clinched that first-ever spot in the Olympic tournament.
Three of the four quarters were close point-wise, but Belgium made its presence felt in the third quarter, outscoring Sweden 21-10. This despite Sweden outdoing Belgium 12-4 on the offensive glass. But Belgium had eight steals and got 16 points off turnovers to seven for Sweden. The Swedes also shot a perfect four for four from the line, but Belgium made more from the stripe than what was attempted by Sweden (11 out of 16).
Meesseman concluded with 24 points and five rebounds to go along with four assists and three steals. Linksens scored 11 points and had five boards of her own. Allemand scored 10 points and dished out five assists. Antonia Delaere also finished with five rebounds.
Frida Eldebrink had 14 points and three assists. Elin Eldebrink along with Zahui B each had nine points (with Zahui B’s nine coming with six rebounds and Eldebrink adding four assists). Regan Magarity brought in 12 rebounds. Kalis Loyd had four rebounds.
Emma Meesseman (Belgium), Saki Hayashi (Japan), Ramu Tokashiki (Japan), Julie Allemand (Belgium) and Natalie Achonwa (Canada) came away with All-Star Five honors with Meesseman taking home an MVP award.
