The Belgian Cats began their Olympic adventure with great fanfare. In an astonishing fourth quarter (in which they won 13-29), they broke away from medal favorites Australia. Meissmann (32 points, 9 rebounds), Allemand (16 points, 11 assists) and Delaer (17 points) were the Cat stars.
Cats’ impressive performance in the fourth quarter led to the win:
Cats open their first game at the Olympics
At the impressive Super Saitama Arena, where Madonna, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses have already performed, the Belgian cats were allowed to celebrate their Olympic debut. And what if they issued their own business card!
Against the seasoned Australians, who are the towering medal favorites even without superstar Liz Campage, the cats started bright and free. Meesseman opened her Olympic bill with a powerful shot, Delare crawled through the defense and Australia’s Allemand punished the loss with a bombshell: 17-21 for Belgium after the first quarter.
In the second chapter, Australians showed why they are second in the world ranking. With a few bombs in quick succession, they turned the tables.
On the flip side, the indulgent Kim, who usually deposits three-pointers in the basket with her eyes closed, isn’t getting through her day. But thanks to two quick goals scored by Gana Raman, who missed last month’s European Championship with a hand injury, everything remained playable in the first half: 41-37 for Australia.
There is no size on cats in the last quarter
Soon after the break, the cats had their dirtiest periods, but thankfully it didn’t last long. The ubiquitous Allemand divided the game to his heart’s content and the equally accomplished Meesseman gave the Belgians the lead again at 51-52.
National coach Philip Mustadagh saw that everything was fine. And that things went better in the decisive company! The Delaere-Meesseman-Allemand trio remained accurate and defensive and locked in for minutes.
When Kim Mestdagh also lifted the lid off the ring, there was a 10-point gap on the scoreboard. The Australians put in pressure, but the cats easily got through it.
It wasn’t the case in the end, because the cats could already start the party a minute and a half after the end. With an 85-70 win over the Australian superpower, the Belgian women’s basketball immediately makes an impressive statement. Their next match is scheduled for Friday at 3am (Belgium time). Then they made a Puerto Rican party.
Delare puts the crown on the job with this triple pointer:
Coach: “Great, but if you lose to Puerto Rico, everything can be rebuilt”
Messman: “If I had said this up front, I would have laughed a lot”
Delare: ‘We really like this underdog’
Allemand: “It’s unbelievable what we did today: we won 15 points”
| programma belgian cats | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 27 July | Australia – Belgium | 70-85 | |
| Friday 30 July | Belgium – Puerto Rico | 3 u | |
| Monday August 2 | China – Belgium | 10.20 inches | |
| Wednesday 4 August | Quarter-finals (maybe) | ||
| Friday August 6 | semi-finals (maybe) | 6.40 st from 13 m | |
| Sunday August 8 | final (maybe) | 4.30 in | |
| NS | W | Fifth | +/- | points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Belgium | 1 | 1 | 0 | +15 | 2 |
| 2. | Australia | 1 | 0 | 1 | -15th | 1 |
| 3. | China | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4. | Puerto Rico | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| the final level | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 4 August | Quarter-finals (maybe) | ||
| Friday August 6 | semi-finals (maybe) | 6.40 st from 13 m | |
| Sunday August 8 | final (maybe) | 4.30 in | |
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