Belgium lost to China 55-81 on Tuesday in their fifth and final match in Group A of the Women’s Basketball World Cup on Tuesday at the Olympic Park Sports Center in Sydney, Australia.
Now deprived of their best player and captain Emma Meesseman, injured left calf the day before against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Cats, trailing 28-35 at halftime, offered a good response during the first three periods before losing sharply to a very physical and complete Chinese formation which is a revelation of the tournament.
Chinese and Belgians being assured of their place in the quarter-finals before their meeting, the stake of this one was the 2nd place of the group which makes it possible to avoid one of the first two teams of group B at the start of the phase by direct elimination. Following its defeat, and an overall record of three wins and two losses, Belgium is therefore certain to be opposed on Thursday in the quarterfinals to the formation ranked 1st or 2nd in the other group. This will be determined by drawing lots this Tuesday (2:30 p.m. Belgian). Heading into the final day’s matches on Tuesday, the four potential opponents were Canada, France, Australia and Serbia.
Without Meesseman, Valéry Demory had to revise his starting five. Becky Massey et Hind Ben Abdelkader were associated with the usual Julie German, Antonia Delaere et Kyara Linskens. Encouraged in particular by Wout van Aert and under the eyes of the Chinese legend of the NBA Yao Ming, the Cats were immediately in the game in this meeting (8-4 in the 4th) which began with a high pace and commitment. This did not favor the address of the two teams (5/18 for the Belgians in the first quarter, 7/20 on the Chinese side). After a first equalizer (8-8), the Belgians regained their distance (14-10) but a Chinese 0-7 reversed the game at the end of the first period (14-17). Meng Li (16 pts in total) began to find the target, as the big Xu Han, and the gap increased (16-21 in the 12th and 18-27 in the 16th and 24-35 in the 18th). Physically dominated, the Cats tried to compensate with their speed to the detriment of precision (0/6 to 3 pts before the break and 5/14 on shots in the 2nd quarter) and turnovers. At rest, Belgium turned at minus 7 (28-35).
The Cats are well back on the floor (33-35) before the Chinese spin to 33-44 in the 23rd. Both teams continued to work hard and defend fiercely. We lacked a lot of easy baskets on both sides. In this game, Belgium nevertheless recovered to 40-44 in the 27th. China then took their distance when approaching the last quarter (45-54) and insisted (47-63, in the 33rd). The Cats no longer had the means to resist (52-73, 35th) and bowed logically after conceding a 10-27 in the last ten minutes.
Kyara Linskens (14 pts and 6/14, 7 rebs) was again the most prominent Belgian while the backs Julie Allemand (7 pts) and Hind Ben Abdelkader (2 pts) were very clumsy (1/8 on shots ) like the whole team who only managed 20 out of 61 shots including barely 16/42 from two points.
The Belgian Cats had started this World Cup with a defeat against the United States (87-72) on Thursday before lining up three victories at the expense of South Korea (84-61) on Friday, Puerto Rico (68- 65) on Saturday, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (85-55) on Monday.
The Belgians are playing their second consecutive World Cup. They took a surprising 4th place at the 2018 World Cup in Tenerife (Spain).