FIBA U19 World Championship for Women: USA win fifth straight title

MVP Breanna Stewart in action for USA in final against France

Defending champions USA won fifth straight title of FIBA U19 Championship for Women after overpowering and thrashing France 68-28 in the final of the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship for women played at Klaipeda, Lithuania.

USA took the first quarter lead of 17-8 while France took the second quarter 12-10.

Going to the halftime break, USA were up by 27-20 and seems like a competitive game. But in the second half of the game, France only manage to score 8 points while USA took the third and fourth quarter 20-6 and 14-2 respectively.

USA’s defensive strategy was too hard to break for France while the USA point guard Breanna Stewart was too hot to handle for France. Breanna Stewart netted 16 points for USA while Olivia Epouda was the highest scorer for France with 9 points.

Breanna Stewart was rewarded with MVP of the championship for her excellent all-round performance to help USA win the fifth straight gold medal of the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women. Joining Stewart in the all-championship team were French playmaker Olivia Epouda, Canadian Jamie Weisner, Australia’s Stephanie Talbot and Spanish center AStou Ndour.

Meanwhile, Australia defeated European powerhouse Spain 73-68 to claim the third spot in the Championship as Asian giant China beat Brazil 68 -65 to claim the fifth spot in the championship.

Below is the ranking of the participating team of the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women held at Lithuania from 18 – 28 July 2013.

1. USA
2. France
3. Australia
4. Spain
5. China
6. Brazil
7. Canada
8. Japan
9. Russia
10. Netherlands
11. Serbia
12. Lithuania
13. Korea
14. Argentina
15. Mali
16. Senegal