SKOPJE, North Macedonia — In this out of the way small country, a former part of Yugoslavia tucked in above Greece, a number of pleasant surprises occurred during the 2019 FIBA U16s Division A women’s basketball championship — new winners and new superstars.
The surprise was the two teams in the FIBA U16 A Division gold medal game generally reserved for Western European powers. This time it was new faces as upstart Lithuania faced perennial power France in the semis pulling off the upset 54-51 while Russia had to get past a talented Spanish roster 64-60 in the other semifinal thriller to reach the finals.
And they both got here on the back of their young stars.
Russia was powered to the gold medal by 14-year-old Anastasiia Kosu who’s strong build and quick feet propels her low post moves and step through attacks to the rim. The 6-1 power forward scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the finale making the Tournament All-Star Five and claiming tournament MVP honors. Doing battle on the other side was Lithuania’s 13-year-old phenom 8th grader Juste Jocyte. Jocyte scored more than half of her team’s points posting 33 to go along with her 9 rebounds. The long, slender 6-0 guard, who also made the Tournament All-Star Five, is a do-everything player who dazzles seasoned observers with her smooth effortless deadeye outside shooting while sporting a mature demeanor playing three years up.
The game came down to the final 3:17 with the scored tied at 64 and Kosu stepped up for seven points to get Russia a 73-66 victory and the gold medal. Jocyte manage just two point over the same span taking only two shots as nothing was run for her to get her more opportunities. The winner of the game would be chosen the MVP and Kosu was awarded the Golden Ball for her efforts.
In addition to these two teams appearing in the finals the other surprise was perennial favorites Spain and France playing for the bronze medal. Usually one, or both, of these teams are in the finals. Russia and Lithuania had other ideas. Spain rebounded from their semifinal defeat at the hands of Russia to beat France convincingly 72-57 for the bronze medal. The Spaniards were led by their power inside player Chisomaga Nweze with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Blue Star 30 Europe 5-9 guard Elena Estevez contributed 16 points of her own. France had its typical physically imposing and upside talented team to the point consistency in the lineup was their fault in the event. Long point guard Leila Lacan was the star in the Bronze loss and only French double digit scorer with 21 points. France’s roster has a ton of players that American colleges will want to look at including long 6-4 post Maia Hirsch and All-Star Five 5-10 Sara Roumy.
The earlier game for 5th spot and who qualifies for the FIBA U17 World Championships in Cluj, Romania next August went to Italy, a 62-54 winner over Belgium. Both teams were long, skilled and full of potential college talent. The Italians were led by a pair of young stars in 5-7 quick point guard Matilde Villa and 5-9 smooth wing Carlotta Zanardi. The World Championships will follow the Tokyo Olympics August 15-24, 2020.
OTHER TEAMS: Belgium, who finished 6th place and out of the U17 Worlds, had a lot of workable pieces but not a consistent star to get into a high finish. Germany (9th place) and Czech (7th place) were similar to Belgium featuring a lot of pieces but no consistent standout to lift them higher even though the Germans were undefeated in pool play. Greece (12th place) also possessed some interesting talent featuring long wing Elena Bosgana as their best. Hungary (11th place) was the team that you want to come back again and again to watch as they have so many long players with upside and college positional potential but with no one rising above the roster yet.
RELEGATION: The most surprising team to head down to the Division B level was Poland, a 68-56 loser to Denmark who remains in Division A next year. The Poles were a favorite to reach a possible medal bracket game featuring two Blue Star 30 Europe campers in 6-1 long wing Agatha Makurat and 6-4 post Emily Kalenik. Their hopes were hampered prior to the Euros when one of the key guards went down with an injury. Turkey edged out Sweden for 15th spot with a 55–50 win.
OTHER STARS: This was the first event for Blue Star 30 Europe players to make their appearance after the inaugural camp was held this past June in Gran Canaria, Spain. Besides Spain’s Estevez and Poland’s Makurat and Kalenik, other 30’s were Vanesa Jasa, a 5-10 Latvian shooter who almost beat Russia in earlier bracket play, and Finland’s Kati Ollilainen, a 5-6 point guard.
ALL TOURNAMENT: Anastasiia Kosu (Russia) MVP, Juste Jocyte (Lithuania), Audrone Zdaneviciute (Lithuania), Marta Morales (Spain) and Sara Roumy (France). This was clearly a worthy battle between the two young stars with the winning team’s standout getting the MVP nod.
2020 U17 WORLDS: With the Euro zone now complete and only the U16s Asia left to play in Tokyo later this fall, the major group of teams are set with the USA, Canada, Russia, Lithuania, Spain, France, Italy and expected Australia, China or Japan. The resurgence of Russia is the big story in Europe as they’ve been unexpectedly absent from the top of youth basketball except for their Raisa Musina-Masha Vadeeva duo’s domination through their competition ages. This year’s Russia team was bigger and stronger than most of the teams in Skopje and had more skilled players possessing the size and speed to cover teams like Italy and Spain which has an abundance of those types of players to call upon.
