Belgium Upends Netherlands, 71-54
8/9/2011 10:48:09 AM | Women's Basketball
OREDEA, Romania – The Netherlands U18 Women's National Team was unable to slow down Belgium in a 71-54 loss in the qualifying round at the U18 European Championship. Syracuse University head women's basketball coach Quentin Hillsman is serving as an assistant coach on the Dutch U18 National Team.
It was not an easy ride right from the start, as Maxime Essenstam had 10 points and grabbed four rebounds only in the first quarter to help the Netherlands stay close to Belgium, 19-16 after the early exchanges.
But then she went quiet for the rest of the encounter, the same as the entire Netherland team.
On defense the Dutch focused on their opponents' best player, Emma Meesseman, who had only five points and four rebounds in the first half.
But Meesseman got plenty of help from her teammates, and Belgium made use of some team-oriented offensive plays to enter the second half with a ten-point lead, 35-25.
After the break, a strong combined defense from the Belgians forced the Dutch to take some tough shot-attempts, many of them at the buzzer, without a big rate of success.
Belgium crowded the paint and its defensive rebounds led to many unstoppable fast-breaks.
Julie Vanloo scored half of her points in the third quarter and distributed some very useful assists to her teammates to power Belgium to a 25-7 score throughout the ten minutes.
Vanloo finished with 14 points and four assists, Lynn Delvaux added 13 points and four rebounds, while Meeseeman contributed with nine points and six rebounds.
Essenstam finished with a double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds, and was the only double-digit scorer for the Dutch.
The Netherlands will take on Italy tomorrow in the final game of the qualifying round.
