The Belgian Cats dominated the first half in a grand way. Emma Meesseman picked rebounds, Kyara Linskens continued on her elan and especially Belgian Player of the Year Maxuella Lisowa opened again energetically and propelled the Cats to an 8-2 bonus. Star player Jonquel Jones was in Emma Meesseman’s pocket, but Bosnia and Herzegovina recovered to a 10-8 score. Julie Vanloo dropped bombs again and after the first quarter The Belgian Cats had a deserved 17-12 bonus in their pocket.
Julie Allemand scored, Julie Vanloo continued to perform strongly and the Belgian girls quickly distanced themselves: 26-16 and 31-20. From a blistering defense and with many delicious fast-breaks, it went to a beautiful 37-22 Belgian lead halfway through.
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Meesseman calf injury
The Belgian Cats opened the second half quickly, but saw Emma Meesseman disappear from the game with a calf injury (left). She was immediately taken care of by the medical staff. However, the Belgian Cats developed a brilliant pace and ran Bosnia and Herzegovina with a fantastic third quarter of the park.
The twin sisters Billie and Becky Massey, Julie Vanloo and a again ubiquitous Kyara Linskens quickly made it 43-26 . At 47-27, the twenty-something was a fact. The Cats swinged again and ended the third quarter with a 62-39 bonus.
Also in the last quarter, the Belgian Next Gen showed that it is gradually but certainly ready for the big work. An important finding with a view to the future. In the fourth and final slide a lifeless Jonquel Jones had already disappeared towards the bank. The Belgian Cats continued to perform well and from 63-44 and 71-46 it went to another collective victory for the excellent rotating national coach Valéry Demory. Eleven of the twelve players scored, including three in double digits.
In their second World Cup ever, the Belgian Cats qualify for the quarterfinals for the second time in a row. A brilliant achievement. Especially because the renewed group of national coach Valéry Demory is only 25 years young on average. After Mali, Belgium is the youngest team at the World Cup. With talent like Nastja Claessens in the waiting room, the future of the Belgian Cats looks bright.
Belgium-Bosnia 85-55
Quartz: 17-12, 20-10, 25-17, 23-16
Belgium: Ramette 2, Delaere 6, Resimont 5, Meesseman 4, Linskens 13, Ben Abdelkader 18, Becky Massey 6, Lisowa 6, Billie Massey 5, Vanloo 13, Allemand 7, Joris 0
Demory praises Cats after smooth victory
The Belgian Cats won convincingly against Bosnia-Herzegovina in their fourth group match at the World Cup in Sydney on Monday and are now completely sure of a place in the quarter-finals. Valéry Demory showed himself to be a “very satisfied” coach after the 85-55 victory.
“We defended very well on Jones (the Bosnian star, ed.). She only scored 8 points. I think my team played very concentrated. They did a great job of sticking to the defensive plan and we also regained the eagerness that was missing against Puerto Rico.”
Hind Ben Abdelkader became the top scorer with 18 points. “Getting to the quarter-finals is a great achievement,” she said. “That was our ambition when we came here, to survive the group stage. Now we have to wait and see what happens in the other group. We know that every team can beat each other. So it won’t be easy. But we have a good team, I believe we can go far.”
