2019 Fiba U19 Women's World Cup

[carlo]

US won two scrimmages, yesterday over Argentina 74-48 and today vs Germany 71-44. No scores available.

[JGX]

USA-Australia opener a championship preview? Seems like a thin field otherwise.

[carlo]

Australia played a strong tune-up tournament last weekend competing in Nice, FRA, against U20 teams. Gems beat Belgium 59-44 and Russia 81-76, losing to eventual winner France 67-57.

[carlo]

Belgium roster finalized after adding three players from the U18 team:

http://www.basketballbelgium.be/fr/team/u19-cats/

http://www.basketballbelgium.be/fr/news/les-young-cats-u19-sont-a-bangkok/

[JGX]

US beat Australia 79-56. Really struggled to put the ball in the basket most of the game, but a strong five minutes at the start of the second half opened up a comfortable lead. Played good defense against the Australian bigs, and held Shelley and Scanlon, who combined for 23 first-half points, scoreless in the second half.

[serbianhoops]

http://www.fiba.basketball/world/u19...ory-in-bangkok

2-year-old article about Maya McArthur's background. She and her teammate Layla Takehara are the two players born outside (both in USA) on the final japanese roster.

From US to Japan, Maya Sophia McArthur harbours hoop dreams

Japan's tryst with having naturalised athletes power their sporting ambitions has on most occasions paid rich dividends. At the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, Japan had 11 naturalised players in their ranks, who then went on to register a stunning 34-32 win over champions South Africa.

Though they are powerhouses in basketball, the move to include naturalised players has seen a handful of foreign-born hoopsters of both Japanese and non-Japanese descent trying to make their mark for their adopted Asian nation in both men's and women's events.

One such player is Maya McArthur, a towering figure among the pacey, skillful bunch of Japanese girls gunning for glory at the FIBA U-16 Women's Asian Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here. Making her debut for Japan, the 5'11" US-born centre was at her rebounding best as they cruised to a 113-36 win over Hong Kong on Monday.

Maya has dual citizenship, thanks to her Japanese mother and American father Eric McArthur - a former basketball player who plied his trade in the Japanese Basketball League for nearly 16 years and also represented Japan at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

"Honestly, I never really thought this would happen," the 16-year-old said. "I've been with the team for about six practice sessions. My dad played for Japan and now here I am. It’s really an honour... I feel so blessed to be here."

Talent notwithstanding, it was also a stroke of luck that now sees the California-based player making her presence felt in the Japanese squad. Earlier this year, Maya had appeared for trials at the FIBA U-16 Americas Championship and though she found herself among the initial 37 probables, she failed to make the final 18-member US team.

“I was never exposed to so many talented and gifted players before so it was a good experience to see the kind of competition that there is across the country. It was a bit disappointing to not make the final cut but it was my first time so I was just trying to get as far as I could,” Maya said.

Later in August, she got a call from Japan senior women’s coach Tom Hovasse saying she was eligible to play for the U-16 squad. “I came for the camp in September and since I can speak fluent Japanese, the initial interaction with the squad was good,” said the junior high student.

“Some of the slang was a bit iffy for me and at first, it was a bit hard to get the chemistry going because they were shy and I was shy but now we are a close bunch.”

Like her predecessors, Maya hopes for a transition to the senior Japanese team in the near future, but her focus also remains on a fruitful career in the US. “My ultimate goal is to get to college with a scholarship, hopefully play at a D1 (Division 1) level and win an NCAA tournament. Of course, the dream right now is to win the Asia Cup,” she signed off.

[carlo]

Disappointing Canada lost to Latvia for the probable leadership of weak Group A. Argentina edged Mali with a strong 2nd half, but the African girls were terrible at FT and surprisingly lost the battle at rebounding. Mali is risking a lot in its group. A masterful 3rd quarter was enough for US to decide the game with Australia. Expecting anyway much more from both teams. Germany was nailed by Japan's triples in the final minutes, Euro champs are at 50pct without Nyara Sabally. Great individual performances of Reka Dombai and of Billie Massey contributed to Hungary and Belgium valuable wins.

[carlo]

Easy win of US (vs Korea) with good shooting display but 29 turnovers are really unacceptable for a team running for the gold. Canada barely survived a late surge of surprising Mozambique, that is so far doing better than the other African team Mali. Solid wins of Australia vs Hungary, of Spain over Japan and of Belgium over a dull Argentina. Colombia led most of the game to a deserved win over Germany, but ex-Euro champs looked just the shadow of the team they were used to be.

[reptilia]

With no Sabally, hard to see Germany making it to the semis.
Canada have also been surprisingly bad. Spain look much better than last year.
After the U.S, it’s pretty wide open. Maybe this early on, second and third look like Spain and Australia.

[rs-mufc]

With no Sabally, hard to see Germany making it to the semis.

Germany is already in 1/8 most probably going to USA. I say most probably because I leave 0,01% that Hungary is convincingly getting USA.

[JGX]

Hot first-half shooting by the US today as Hungary didn't offer much resistance. Wish they would play in the smaller arena again so we could hear Walz screaming through the entire game.

[carlo]

No surprise today, except for Colombia fighting head-to-head with Japan for three quarters. Spain beat Germany in a low scoring game but lost injured Laura Piera, one of its top guards. Playing its best basketball so far US routed hopeless Hungary, that is competing with the same team that finished 2nd at the U18 Euro some days ago.

Ro16:

Latvia vs Mali
Australia vs Colombia
Mozambique vs China
Korea vs Spain

Canada vs Argentina
USA vs Germany
Thailand vs Belgium
Hungary vs Japan

[reptilia]

Latvia
Australia - Win

China
Spain - Win

Canada
USA - Win

Belgium - Win
Japan



Semis

Australia - Win
Spain

USA - Win
Belgium



Finals

Spain vs Belgium (Belgium win bronze)

Australia vs USA (Australia silver, USA Gold)

[carlo]

Another Mali team making history, advancing to QF at the expense of previously unbeaten but very flat Latvia. Mali looked much improved today, better exploiting the huge potential of Sika Kone, while Fanta Kone finished with a 11 assists record. Going against Australia in QF Mali will however need a miracle to advance. USA had a sloppy start against Germany with no outside shooting and being vulnerable under the glass, but bounced back taking control of the game. Next is Canada that looked improved today. Belgium will find Japan in an interesting game opposing size to speed and Spain will take a much improved China.

[carlo]

Belgium reaches its first WC Sf after trouncing Japan defensively (5 blocks by Billie Massey) and will find a US team that made easy work of Canada. Should be a tough Sf, as Belgium looked the most brilliant among the "others" so far. Australia defeated Mali after a close 1st half and takes Spain winner of China despite some troubles in the final minutes. Spain looked unconvincing in the last games and Gems should be slightly favorite.