ITA - Santucci looking skywards after first success

KLATOVY (FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) - There's no denying that Italy endured a nightmare start to their FIBA U17 World Championship for Women campaign in Klatovy, but with a precious win now banked, the only way is up according to Mariella Santucci.

Having opened up with a heavy defeat against one of the pre-tournament favourites Spain, Italy were then left reeling when their offense hit a brick wall against Brazil as a devastating drought led to a second comprehensive loss.

But their much-needed triumph against Egypt means Santucci is eager to move on from their initial experiences which at one juncture, had seen their offensive meltdown reach at an eye-watering 0 of 26 when facing Brazil - not helped by the absence of star player Francesca Pan.

"We knew it was very important to win this game in order to be third in the group and face the team that comes second in Group B," confirmed the playmaker, who had 14 points, six steals, five rebounds and four assists in Tuesday's win.

"We gave everything we had from start to finish. In the first two games, we started slow but this time we got off to a good start.

"After the defeat to Brazil we stayed united, we stayed together and spent all of the rest day (on Monday) together.

"We knew we had started badly and we wanted to get out of that. We didn't play as a team in the first two games, but we did against Egypt and it went very well.

"Playing as a team gives us our best chance of beating anybody and we hope to win on Wednesday and reach the last eight."

With regards to Pan's absence, the 17-year-old said: "We're playing without Francesca (Pan) but we feel we deserve to be there. We have to divide (her load) between the 12 of us and make all of the contributions she would usually bring to the team both offensively and defensively."

As for head coach Umberto Alliori, he was relieved to have buried the memory of the first two days of action - or at least he hoped it would now give his team a fresh wave of confidence.

"We really needed that," admitted the play-caller.

"Egypt are not as strong as the other two teams, but they do score and finally we were able to find our own running game which means we could involve all the players offensively.

"It was unbelievable against Brazil and even in the two practices since the game, we have continued not scoring, because everyone was still afraid of shooting the ball.

"But, when you get out and run, you don't have time to think about is so much and I think we are all more relaxed now.

"We knew we might have a difficult start as our preparation was short and after what happened (against Brazil) we just kept talking and supporting the players.

"They are young girls, away from home and it's generally their first experience of the tournament, so it was just a question of confidence.

"I don't want to keep talking about Pan not being here - yes, she was our main scorer, but we now know that we can win without her.

"It is about the 12 players we have here. Instead of only scoring and taking responsibility when Pan was getting doubled or even triple-teamed, the other players can now play and contribute from the beginning, so I see this as an opportunity for them," concluded Alliori.

FIBA