That’s how cruel basketball is. Three impeccable rooms of superb defenses, agile hands and collective success at key moments. All the virtues of the Spain of Miguel Méndez went down the drain in a final quarter in which two totems, Emma Meesseman (24 points and eight rebounds) and Kyara Linskens (18 points and 15 rebounds), frustrated the illusion of the Spanish to be crowned again as Eurobasket champions (58-64). Gold went to Belgium. Silver, for the team led by the Mallorcan Alba Torrens.
Spain has shown in this tournament that the setback of the previous edition, that of 2021, was just that, a specific error. And that is excellent news. The pity is that it was not enough to defeat Belgium and thus become five-time European champions. 9 points from Linskens and 8 from Meesseman in the final quarter prevented it. No other Belgian player scored in that set until the last four seconds, but Rachid Meziane’s team did not need it to be crowned in Ljubljana (Slovenia) as Eurobasket champion for the first time in its history.
Alba Torrens’ record
A historic milestone marked the start of the game, with four points at dawn that made Alba Torrens the all-time top scorer in Spain in Eurobaskets. The identity of the succession reinforces the overtaking, since the one who until now led that ranking was Amaya Valdemoro, big words.
Alba Torrens, top scorer of the Spanish team in the Eurobasket
This happened in a context of excellent defensive work of Miguel Méndez’s players, causing Belgium to only score six points in the first seven minutes, all of them coming from the hands of Meesseman. Nothing, however, that would daunt one of his peers, a Raquel Carrera (the Galician will be a legend one day) who signed six of the 17 points with which Spain built its lead at the end of the first quarter (17-13).
Queralt Casas, floated almost always by the Belgians, at times without concealment, complemented the interior work of the Valencia center in attack and also that of Paula Ginzo, while Vanloo tried to lead a Belgium with soap in his hands. Rachid Meziane accumulated 13 losses at halftime (32-25), unable with such a figure in his backpack to honor his status as top scorer in this championship during the first half.
Belgium reacts with Vanloo
Belgium reacted after a new basket from Carrera set a maximum disadvantage for them of nine points. Vanloo took the temperature of the game, Meesseman emerged and Belgium chained a 3-9 run. Méndez responded from the bench by tapping Leo Rodríguez, a specialist who responded in his first attack with a triple that stopped the Belgian inertia.
The unusual outside line formed by the Canary Islander, Ouviña and Silvia Domínguez worked in those minutes, but five consecutive points from Allemand turned a maximum advantage for Spain into a dangerous one to face the fourth final (48-43).
Spain’s nerves increased at the beginning of those last 10 minutes, in which the players of the national team chained several poor outside shots. Only Paula Ginzo managed to stop the Belgian rebellion, led by Linskens and by a Meesseman who, with 4:10 to go, managed to put Belgium in front of the scoreboard for the first time in the entire match (54-55).
A terrible last quarter
It was difficult for Méndez to recover his starting outside trio, thinking of taking advantage of the wear and tear of the Belgian, with four players who played more than 33 minutes, something that only Carrera did in Spain. The problem, however, was with the team on the inside, minimized in the rebound and unable to stop Meesseman and Linskens.
Silver with record for Alba Torrens in the Eurobasket
Nothing worked for Spain to reverse the trend and get hooked on the party again, signing a final partial of 8-17. Nothing entered Méndez’s players, neither inside nor out, and he was also incapable of grabbing the rebounds for which he had competed decisively until then, despite his physical inferiority.
in the end it was plata (and classification for the pre-Olympic, already insured before the final) and surely all the Spanish fans would have signed it. Today he knows little, but from tomorrow it will be considered that Spain continues to be among the elite of basketball. The prodigious decade was interrupted and the good news, despite the result, is that it has been reactivated.
SPAIN 58 – BELGIUM 64
Spain (17+15+16+10): Cazorla (3), Casas (14), Torrens (8), Gil (4), Carrera (12) -five starters- Domínguez (-), Ginzo (10), Ouviña (-), Quevedo (-) and Rodríguez ( 7).
Belgium (13+12+18+21): Allemand (9), Vanloo (13), Delaere (-), Meesseman (24), Linskens (18) – five starters – Becky Massey (-), Mununga (-), Lisowa Mbaka (-) and Resimont (-).
Referees: Forsberg (DIN), Liszka (POL) and Baldini (ITA). No eliminated.
Incidences: Final of the Eurobasket played at the Stožice Arena in Ljubljana (Slovenia) before some 3,500 spectators.
2023-06-25 21:19:07
#Basketball #Silver #Mallorcan #Alba #Torrens
