2011 U16 Women European Championship

[carlo]

The U16 European championship starts tomorrow in Cagliari, Italy (11-21 August 2011).

http://u16women.fibaeurope.com/en/

Some tourneys were played in preparation of the championship and Spain appears the strongest competitor having won all friendly games. Spanish girls won the most recent tourney, played in Cagliari, followed by Italy, France and Greece.
Russia, France and Italy follow in the list of competitors, but there will surely be some interesting surprise showing up during the tournament.
Defending champion is Russia who won last year defeating Croatia.

[stefanobet(.com)]

Attention at Greece

[barchen]

also belgium looks strong.... beating france and russia...

[Marina7]

Does anybody know if we can watch the games online somewhere? Even if we have to pay? Thanks!

[carlo]

also belgium looks strong.... beating france and russia...

You probably refer to the recent Trabzon Tourney (Turkey) with Belgium winning the trophy over France 65-58...
In this game Hind Ben Abdelkader scored 34 points for Belgium...not bad !

[carlo]

After 2 days competition, Spain already looks above all the others smashing Italy by 60 pts and Finland by 80...
Sweden, Russia and surprising Turkey still undefeated as well.
Italy jumped back well after first day disaster with Spain, the same did Belgium and France.

[carlo]

Quarters will start tomorrow and only Spain is still undefeated.

Yesterday Spanish team rolled over another competitor (Turkey) and is clearly favorite meeting Greece in the quarters.

Home team Italy finished second in its group playing well after the first game disaster (with Spain) but lost to Netherlands in a game that was ininfluent for the group standings. Italy has a tough job in the quarters facing a Russian team (and defending champs) which showed excellent condition in the last game with Sweden.

Another interesting game will be opposing Belgium (#1 of its group) and France. French team has played below expectations so far and much will depend on the availability and conditions of some of its players. Belgium was better so far and should be slightly favorite in this quarter.

Finally Sweden will be opposed to Turkey in a game that looks interesting and uncertain. Both teams have played well during the tourney but ended the qualifications with a loss. Sweden slightly favorite but Turkey could be a surprise.

[carlo]

It seems so !

[tmlouk]

As I'm quite new to basketball but Ive had a few bets on rugby and large Hcps are hard to cover I have had a small wager on Greece +35.5 and Sweden with betfred.

this is not a betting forum...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[carlo]

Big win from Italy over Russia in the last quarter, again with the lead of one of the best players, Cecilia Zandalasini (23pts). Italy had a rocket start and kept the game till the end.
If playing like they did with Russia, Italian girls could beat today Belgium and reach the final.
Belgium edged France at the photofinish with a big three by Julie Allemand, France team somewhat deceiving for the result though it played its second game w/o its top scorer Djaldi-Tabdi.
Spain again steamrolled another opponent (Greece) and is the other semifinalist facing Turkey that prevailed over Sweden, despite the heroics of its Fw Regan Magarity (18+18). Swedish girls have to blame their horrible FT shooting (3/15, 20%), had they just reached a 50% accuracy they would have won the game!

[carlo]

Belgium vs Spain will face for the title game.
Strong Belgian team, led by Hind Ben Abdelkader (29pts) defeated Italy 54-43, after host team was ahead at the intermission. Italian girls went close to Belgium in Q4 but were held scoreless in the last 4'45" with Belgium hitting 9pts.
Turkey resisted well to mighty Spain in the first half, then favorite Spanish team clearly dominated the rest of the game.
In Div. B Germany and Great Britain, both promoted, will battle in the final.

[carlo]

As expected, Spain was simply the best European team getting the gold vs a strong Belgian team.
Spanish girls were always leading but at 4' of Q3 Belgium went ahead 36-35 for the first time. In the following 13' Spain overwhelmed Belgium girls 28-3, keeping them scoreless for 7'.
Italy took the bronze with an outstanding win over Turkey, shooting 51% from the field. This win was an excellent reward to a supportive crowd who was the best 6th player of the Italian team.
Belgian Hind Ben Abdelkader named MVP, other All Stars: Spain's Maria Arrojo and Leticia Romero, Italy's Cecilia Zandalasini and Turkey's Hulya Coklar.
The 4 finalists are qualified to the 2012 U17 World Championship.

Germany got the Div B title, edging Great Britain in the final game. Both are promoted to Div A.