One day after the logical loss to the United States, the Belgians won their second match in the World Cup due to force majeure. The Belgian women were way too big for South Korea on Friday.
View a large summary of the competition:
Belgian cats on a trot to win
Defeat to the United States was pre-calculated, but so was the victory over South Korea. And the Belgian cats did what they had to do against a very modest opponent, whom the Belgian women outdid in all areas.
South Korea’s start was still hopeful with a few three-pointers, but Belgium quickly took control. Julie Allemand pulled off the game as it was on her best days, Emma Meesemann could have made more of her mark and Julie Fanlow was the finalist on the rotation in the strong first quarter.
South Korea continued to seek refuge in the Three Points and was nowhere under the plates. Belgium dominated the rebound and did not weaken when making substitutions. For example, there was a 20-point gap on the board in the first half: 50-30.
In the third quarter, Hind bin Abdul Qadir, who came as a strong substitute, sacked her demons with three consecutive three-pointers. The game was settled a long time ago.
The wide lead allowed national coach Demory to continue the rotation, but also with the benches, the difference went about 30 points in the middle of the fourth quarter. In the end, South Korea managed to calm down a bit. Final score 84-61.
Thanks to the win, Belgium kept on track in the quarter-finals and no one had to play more than 26 minutes. This rest is important given what’s to come, because the cats have to go back to work on Saturday. Hence, Puerto Rico is the opponent, at 12.30 pm Belgian time.
Belgium: Ben Abdelkader 17, Vanlo 14, Allemand 13, Delayer 10, Messiman 9, Becky Massey 6, Billy Massey 5, Linskins 4, Liswa 4, Ramit 2, Juris 0, Raismont 0
Julie Fanlo: ‘The focus now is on Puerto Rico’
Winning and splitting the minutes as much as possible: This was clearly the intention of the Belgian cats against South Korea and this was also confirmed by the national coach after the match.
“The plan was to win this match with relative ease,” Valerie Demore said after the match. “I didn’t want the most important players to play for more than 25 minutes. It worked.”
“South Korea is a special team, they play a lot abroad and have young players. But my team did well in attack,” he looked satisfied.
Julie Vanlow was also pleased with the smooth victory. “We’re feeling better,” Fanlo said.
“We definitely want to advance to the next round, that’s our goal. Now we focus on tomorrow’s match against Puerto Rico. That match is very important.”
Belgian cats at the Basketball World Cup
| Program group A | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 09/22 | United State | Belgium | 87-72 |
| 09/23 | Belgium | South Korea | 84-61 |
| 09/24 | Puerto Rico | Belgium | 12.30 pm |
| 09/26 | Belgium | Bosnia | 3.30 am |
| 09/27 | China | Belgium | 5.30 am |
| Stand in group A | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | W | Fifth | +/- | ptn | ||
| 1. | China | 2 | 2 | 0 | +110 | 4 |
| 2. | United State | 2 | 2 | 0 | +79 | 4 |
| 3. | Belgium | 2 | 1 | 1 | +8 | 3 |
| 4. | Puerto Rico | 2 | 1 | 1 | -40 | 3 |
| 5. | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2 | 0 | 2 | -71 | 2 |
| 6. | South Korea | 2 | 0 | 2 | -86 | 2 |
The top four qualify for the quarter-finals.
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