RUS/KOR – Russians beat Korea but it’s not seventh heaven for Sokolovskiy’s team

KARLOVY VARY (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) - Russia signed off from their disappointing FIBA World Championship for Women with an 87-76 triumph over Korea to clinch seventh place on Sunday.

Upset by Belarus in the Quarter-Finals, the Russians then fell to Australia in the Classification Round before defeating the Koreans.

“It was the last game and we’re very sorry we stopped our fight for the medals,” Russia coach Boris Sokolovskiy said.

“The last two games, it was very difficult for my team (to fight) for these places because Russian teams always brought (home) medals from the competitions.”

Korea made Russia work the victory.

Ha Yeon Beon scored nine of her game-high 24 points in the first 16 minutes of the contest to help put the Asian team into 35-32 lead but Russia closed the first half with a 15-7 run to move in front at 47-42 and they stayed in front the rest of the way.

Russia led by as many as 19 before leaving the court with an 11-point victory.

The captain of the European giants, Ilona Korstin, had 21 points and eight rebounds.

Becky Hammon didn’t play in the game because of an injured hamstring but Sokolovsky asked his American-born guard to accompany him in the press conference.

"Korea is a very good team,” Hammon said.

“They moved quickly, passed well and shot well.

“In the first half, they did a good job spreading our defense.

“But we got our post game going and running, and our defense was huge.”

Korea ended the FIBA World Championship for Women in eighth place.

Their 1.70m guard, Ji Yoon Kim, had seven points and eight assists.

“We did what we could today,” she said. “As many of our players were injured, we did our best in the tournament.”

FIBA