ESP - Casas looking to add to her golden collection

PUERTO MONTT (2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - Spain finished the Eight Final round of the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women with a comprehensive 83-48 victory over Chile.

Though Chile battled hard all night in front of another 2500 strong crowd, Spain extended their lead at every change to run out comfortable winners with centre Astou Ndour again performing strongly with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The victory completed their preparation for the Quarter Finals, where they will meet the undefeated Canadian team who took care of the USA in their final Group E game.

One of Canada's strengths has been their changing zones, and Spain will need athletic wings Mariona Ortiz, Inmaculada Zanoguera and Queralt Casas to penetrate deep into the defence to create open shots.

When you watch Casas play, it seems she could penetrate and score, or set up a teammate, anytime she wanted to. Instead, she seems content to play her part in the selfless Spanish team game, inserting the occasional moment of brilliance when the opportunity arises.

That's the way she likes it. "I like to start with my defence. I am always the first one up the court with my defence (picking up the ball), so all the other players see me first and if I am defending hard then it is contagious for the rest of the team," she said.
 
"So I start with the defence, work hard on the rebounds, and if I get shots I will take them."

For Casas it is all about winning, and winning isn't something new for the 18 year old from Girona.

In 2008 she helped lead Spain's U16 team to gold, and then joined the U18 team that defeated France to win gold the following year. In 2010, Casas and Spain would lose the U18 final to Italy and claim silver.

Not liking the taste of defeat, Casas would almost single handedly make sure Spain did not taste defeat in this year's U20 European gold medal game. Something special was required and Casas delivered, scoring 21 of her team's 62 points as they defeated Russia by nine points.

The 180cm guard is typically modest. "I just felt so proud to help the team to the gold medal," she said. "It wasn't about the individual achievement of scoring the points, but being part of a whole team effort to win."

So far in the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women, Casas is averaging 18.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 3.0 spg to be a strong early candidate for All Tournament Team honours.

In the final game of the preliminary round Slovenia offered a strong challenge to the Spaniards, staying close throughout the first half. But Casas took her defence up the floor in the third quarter and hounded the Slovenians out of their offence, triggering numerous fast breaks as Spain secured a 17-point win.

Slovenia coach Damir Grgic was full of praise for Casas after the game. "She is an excellent defender, she is excellent at stealing the ball. It was good for my girls (playing against her), sure they lost a few balls but they did pretty well and they will have learned a lot," he said.
 
"She is a great opponent, a great player. She already plays division one in Spain, she was a main player on the champion team at the U20 European championship, what more do you need to say?"

Casas' next goal after Chile is to prove herself on the senior stage. "I want to keep playing in the Spanish league and get more minutes, become an important player at that level," she said. "And like all of our players, I would like to represent Spain at the senior level."

And are the 2016 Olympics in Brazil one of her goals? "Si! I would very much like to make the national team and I would love to play at the Olympics!"

For now though, her aim is to add another gold medal to her already impressive collection. "I want to win the gold. But first we have to make it to the finals, so we are going to make the finals!"


FIBA