Group D Review - Hot Russia get past Argentina, Czech Republic survive Japan comeback
Group D Review- Hot Russia get past Argentina, Czech Republic survive Japan comeback BRNO, (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) - Russia sealed first place in Group D with a 77-59 victory over Argentina to enter the Eight-Final Round with a perfect record. Tournament hosts Czech Republic survived a tough fight from Japan to win 66-60 and progress ...
Group D Review- Hot Russia get past Argentina, Czech Republic survive Japan comeback
BRNO, (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) - Russia sealed first place in Group D with a 77-59 victory over Argentina to enter the Eight-Final Round with a perfect record.
Tournament hosts Czech Republic survived a tough fight from Japan to win 66-60 and progress as the second-place team while the Asians claimed the final qualifying spot.
Boris Sokolovskiy's side held Argentina to just one point for more than four minutes in the third quarter in improving to 3-0.
Irina Osipova led the way with 20 points coming off the bench on seven of eight (88%) shooting from the floor.
She also pulled down eight rebounds, dished out three assists and blocked one shot.
Svetlana Abrosimova contributed 13 for the Russians, and after the victory visited with FIBATV.com.
"This is exactly where we wanted to be," said Abrosimova.
"That was our goal. There were no easy games in the Preliminary Round.
"We have made a lot of mistakes, missed a lot of shots and we are trying to find our chemistry.
"Every team is prepared, every team has a hunger to triumph and even if you win by 20 points, it's still tough.
"We now have to rest, recover and be concentrated for the next round."
Argentina were paced by 11 points from Alejandra Chesta, who also came up with three steals.
Russia led from start to finish but the South Americans, who lost a heartbreaker against Japan yesterday, showed great fighting spirit.
Down 60-39 with two minutes to go in the third quarter, Eduardo Pinto's side cut the gap to 63-54 with 3:09 left.
Russia outscored Argentina 14-5 the rest of the way.
Argentina will travel to Karlovy Vary for the Classification Round.
"Considering our limitations, I thought we played a good game," said Pinto. "It was difficult to lift up the team's morale after yesterday's unfair loss.
"It's a pity because had we won that game, we could have progressed to the next round and we would have faced a team that we know well like Brazil or competed against Korea.
"Unfortunately that was not the case and we just have to try to play our remaining games in the best possible way.
"We hope to recover Carolina Sanchez, who will undergo tests after sustaining a knock on her knee today."
In the other game, the Czechs held off a resilient Japan to clinch their second victory in Brno.
Trailing 64-55 with 4:21 remaining, the tournament's top scorer Ugo Yoka came up strong for Japan burying a three-ball before providing the assist for Yoko Nagi to score a layup on a fastbreak to trail 64-60 with 3:31 to go.
But the Czechs shut down Yoka the rest of the way to seal victory.
"Japan are a tough rival because they never stopped fighting and believing," said Czech center Ilona Burgrova, who led her team with 14 points, and visited with FIBATV.com after the game.
Trailing 53-34 with 2:34 to go in the third quarter, Japan scored 12 unanswered points to remain in the game. Yoka poured in eight of her game-high 22 points in that spurt.
"She is a very good player and we knew we had to stop her, which was not easy," said Burgrova.
Japan were eight of 24 (33%) shooting from behind the arc while Veronika Bortelova downed the Czechs' only three pointer of 11 attempts.
However, the Czechs, who outrebounded Japan 47-26, were perfect from the line making all of their 11 free throws.
Russia, Czech Republic and Japan will compete in Group F of the Eighth-Final Round where they will join Spain, Korea and Brazil.