The best of the FIBA U17 Women's WC 2010: Stewart's first gold, Meesseman's debut and Meng Li MVP

MIES (Switzerland) - Back in 2010, FIBA launched the first FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup and there were plenty of talking points and talent on show in France.

We've hit the rewind button to the inaugural edition of the competition 12 years ago and here's all you know about how it went down in Rodez and Toulouse.

The best team : USA 

It was not a huge surprise that the most decorated and powerful women's basketball nation on earth emerged from this maiden event with the gold medal. However,  the sheer margin of victories across their unbeaten trail was a real eye-opener. They were ruthlessly dominant and indeed unstoppable with no opponent getting within less than 25 points of them during the entire competition.

 

Elizabeth Williams led the champions in both scoring and rebounding with 13.5 points and 7.6 boards per game, while Ariel Massengale handed out most assists with 5.4 per game.

Rank	Team	W-L
1.	USA	8-0
2.	France	5-3
3.	China	6-2
4.	Belgium	5-3
5.	Japan	4-4
6.	Russia	3-5
7.	Australia	4-4
8.	Spain	2-6
9.	Argentina	4-3
10.	Turkey	3-4
11.	Canada	2-5
12.	Mali	0-7

 

The best player: Meng Li - China

 

Landing the bronze medal, China were fueled by the kind of all-action wing play that Meng Li has since shown at the senior level. Currently a top performer for China, she showed those leadership skills in France, contributing 15.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Se was chosen MVP for this competition.

The best game: Japan vs Australia 

 

After both teams had lost in the Quarter-Finals, you might have forgiven them for feeling sorry for themselves. But they showed just how important the fight for 5th place was as Japan won an absolute classic shootout 95-92. The loss was tough on Australia's Gretel Tippett who had a jaw-dropping 34 points and 16 rebounds, but Japan had too much in the tank and shot the ball well from outside with 13 triples. They also had two future senior stars, with an stunning 30 points from Yuki Miyazawa and 23 points from Moeko Nagaoka.

The best performance:  Olivia Epoupa - France

 

While Gretel Tippett of Australia might argue she had the best display of the competition, there was an absolutely sensational performance from Epoupa and not least because it was in the Semi-Finals. Despite being the smallest player on the court, the livewire guard posted an incredible and towering performance for the host nation to inspire a 59-49 success for host nation France in a big derby against Belgium. It was an early glimpse of what fans would get to see on a regular basis from Epoupa as she claimed a sparkling double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, also handing out 5 assists and grabbing 3 steals.

The superstar: Breanna Stewart - USA

Introducing herself to the global stage and as the second youngest on the USA roster, this was the precious first introduction of Stewart to many fans (12,8 points, 57,1% shooting and 7,4 rebounds per game). Of course since then, her trajectory has been so steep that she is arguably the most talented and widely recognized star of the women's game. A true global icon for female hoops with her collection of titles and medals for club and country having ticked just about every single box. 

The legend in the making: Emma Meesseman - Belgium

 

Anyone who saw Meesseman at youth level knew she was destined to be one of the best players around if she continued working hard. Since 2010, it's been a fairytale, with the forward an absolute marquee centerpiece for the Belgian Cats, having propelled them to so many historical highs such as a first ever FIBA Women's EuroBasket medal, first Olympic Games and first FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. In all cases it has been the massive numbers and towering performances of Meesseman that has paced those achievements. In Rodez and Toulouse she averaged a near tournament double-double of 14.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. 12 years later and she is on course to be a Belgian basketball legend and some would argue that will soon expand to at least a European level.

The hidden star: Pelin Bilgic - Turkey

 

The guard was part of a deep backcourt rotation so was not a standout member of the team with less than 10 minutes per game. Fast forward to the current day and Bilgic is the leading light for Turkey at senior level, having also excelled with Galatasaray in EuroLeague Women where she topped the assists chart in the competition with 6.7 per outing.

Stats leaders

Scorers

Player	Points Per Game
Nirra Fields	22.4
Yuki Miyazawa	21.6
Moeko Nagaoka	18.5
Gretel Tippett	18.0
Julie Vanloo	16.6

 

Rebounds

Player	Rebounds Per Game
Diana Cabrera	10.6
Ksenia Tikhonenko	9.8
Emma Meesseman	9.6
Yuki Miyazawa	9.3
Dong Yu	9.1

 

Assists

Player	Assists Per Game
Ariel Massengale	5.4
Manami Fujioka	4.4
Melisa Gretter	4.1
Meng Li	4.0
Sien Devliegher	3.6

 

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