DEBRECEN, Hungary –After winning every game at the 2022 FIBA U17 World Championships by double figures, it was only appropriate that the gold medal game would be a tougher battle. This finale was about just winning quarters. The USA jumped out quickly 6-0, won the first period 24-13 but was out scored 13-12 in the second for a 36-26 halftime lead. The Spaniards brought a more physical play, leaning on every American and disrupting flow to force a 15/42 FG and 1/10 3pts shooting. Only a 15-9 edge in offensive rebounds kept them in the lead at halftime.
The teams traded buckets in the third quarter, both teams missed numerous drives to the basket and even more outside shots. This was not pretty. And, even looked desperate on both sides. USA won the 3rd quarter 21-19 for a 57-44 lead.
In the last quarter it was trading baskets, with Spain not able to keep pace with the USA which started the fourth quarter pressing and flying just like the USA U17 Men did in their final against Spain a few weeks back. The pace enabled them to keep increasing the lead by 20+ points until it was obvious with 3 mins left this game was over. Gold Medal time – USA 84 Spain 62.
ALL-TOURNAMENT: The All-Tournament Team comprised of: Dominique Malonga (France), Iyana Martin Carrion (Spain), Cassandre Propser (Canada), Jaloni Cambridge (USA) and MVP Juju Watkins (USA).
TOURNAMENT NOTES: The third-place game was a huge, bronze-medal battle between France, rebounding from a tough semifinal loss to Spain after blowing a 5-pont fourth quarter lead, played Canada which usually doesn’t make Medal round games falling in the quarterfinals. Canada did lose in the semis to the USA, but with 6-2 Cassandre Prosper, 6-2 Toby Lee Fournier, 6-0 Deniya Trinity Prawl and 5-10 Bree Robinson it was able to get to the 3rd place game. Unfortunately, they had to play France on the rebound. French stars, 6-6 stars Dominique Malonga (a future pro) and 5-9 wing Marine Dursus controlled the game for three quarter before a huge Canadian rally, down five with 6:40 to play. It was a back-and-forth effort with Malonga blocking shots and rebounding to give France the 84-82 victory. This was as close as Canada has come to claiming a medal.
Overall, this was a strong performance for Canada which had enough talent to get into the medal round unlike other years when there was not enough talent or bench depth. France will have to still figure out how to produce a star scorer, a player who can take over the game from the wing instead of the usual point guard, post player talent they develop.
Australia beat host Hungary for 5th place 72-52 after losing to Spain in the quarterfinals, the same place where Canada beat Hungary. This was a unimpressive Australian team which is either from the impact of covid or a bad generation of talent. The USA college coaches came here to watch their individual talents: 6-2 Saffron Shiels, 6-4 Isla Juffermans, 6-2 Jessica Petrie and 5-9 Rubi Gray – all of whom are in obvious strength training mode. What was missing was a great PG and another athletic scorer. Regardless of the team results, these players will be chased by USA power 5 D1 college coaches.
The other player college coaches came here to see was 6-4 lean German post player Annika Soltau who despite her build chased every rebound, banged and ended up being the U17s leading scorer with a 20.3ppg average in 29.6 minutes. Germany beat a scrappy but less talented Japan team for 7th place. Japan replaced almost half the team right before this event as the U16s Asia Championships were held 10-days prior to this FIBA world championship event in Jordan.
Egypt never known for its youth womens’ basketball came away with three victories for 11th place beating New Zealand 69-47 behind it’s star player, 6-4 Jana Elalfy which drew the eyes of numerous college coaches. Another African country making a move was Mali the major power at these age groups gave every opponent fits, even the USA as they gave tough games to Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Belgium, Egypt and Solvenia, getting 2 wins and three close games for 10th place losing to Slovenia 75-66.
MISSING: Between covid, politics and other international issues this event was missing Russia, Serbia (backing Russia’s non-participation), Italy, Turkey, China (covid concerns). Some European teams did not play in their regional FIBA Europe Challenger events last year and missed the chance to qualify. Belgium which came in second to Serbia in their Group last summer replaced Serbia.
