The Australian U17 Women took on Argentina, Belgium, China, Mali and Spain in the World Championships in Toulouse and Rodez in France. It wasn’t an easy task for the girls, as the group contained three other FIBA Championship winners from other confederations (China, Mali and Spain).

The girls left on Wednesday 7th July with a 30 hour travelling trip ahead from Sydney to Singapore, Singapore to London, London to Barcelona and finally a bus journey from Barcelona to Alagon.

First off the U17 Women beat the United States in a warm up game with Gretel Tippett topping all scorers with 16 points. This would prove to be a great kick start to their campaign as next up for the U17s were the current European Champions, Spain. With only 2:21 remaining and the U17s down 54-57, the Australian’s rallied out from a timeout and quickly put up two baskets to take the lead with 1:13 on the clock. Some great defensive pressure ensured that the Spanish couldn’t get another score and the U17s celebrated their opening game with a win. Melbourne Tigers Sara Blicavs started for the girls and chipped with 3 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.

Next up for the girls was another clash of the titans as they faced Asian Champions China. Unfortunately the girls were not able to reproduce another victory, eventually going down 92-75. China connected on 14 ‘3s’ and their overall shooting display was too much for the U17 girls to match. Tigers Blicavs chipped in with 12 points in just 15 minutes whilst also drawing 5 fouls from the Chinese.

The girls moved a step closer to the quarter finals after crushing Argentina 77-57. After a days rest, they would face a winless Mali team in hope of securing a quarter-final spot.

This was indeed the fact as the U17s went on a rampage beating Mali 88-39 while again using their size to dominate the boards 50-18. Tigers Sara Blicavs contributed 14 points and 4 assists in just 18 minutes. She was one of five players to score double figures for the U17s whilst Mariam Maiga was the only shining light for Mali with 16 points.

Although the U17s lost their final group game to Belgium 61-67, they finished third in their group with a 3-2 win-loss record and went on to face France in the next round. Roberts and Tippet lead the scorers with 23 points 14 boards and 16 points 10 boards respectively however Blicavs was consistent again producing 8 points, 5 boards and 3 assists.

Following a rest day the U17s stumbled to the French. With the team shooting just 34% from the field combined with their main scorers in foul trouble, France took the upper hand in the game. Tippet led all scorers with 17 points, while her supporting cast of Talbot, Roberts and Blicavs contributed 10, 9 and 7 respectively. Although the girls brought it back to within 3 points with 1:31 to play they were forced to foul and France finished off the game from the line.

This meant that the U17s were unable to compete for a medal and were forced to play Japan in the classification finals which would place them between 5th and 8th.

In a nail bitter of a game, however Japan’s speed and clinical shooting was too much for the U17s to match. The Japanese shot 54% from behind the arc with Yume Negishi shooting 6 from 7 in particular. Tippett led all scorers exploding for 34 points and 16 boards with Tigers star Sara Blicavs impressed again with 19 points and 8 boards. Japan eventually ran out 95-92 with Blicavs unable to convert a last ditch three to tie the game.

As a result, the U17s would face Spain again to decide for the 7th and 8th ranking. With confidence from their last meeting, the U17s put on a show to finish the tournament in style.

This was a fantastic performance from the girls after a disappointing loss to the Japanese to finish the tournament with four wins, four losses and a 7th ranking spot. After the final game, both Roberts and Tippet finished in the top five players in scoring for the tournament with Tippet in fourth (18 ppg) and Roberts in fifth (16.1 ppg).

Sara Blicavs finished third highest scoring for the Australian team averaging 9.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game with a game high score of 19 points against the Japanese. Well done to the girls and Sara Blicavs!