97-58: Spain overwhelms Mali in Zaragoza in the penultimate test before the World Cup
Spain This Sunday they once again displayed the strength of the team, with scoring contributions from all their players, and gave themselves a boost of confidence in their penultimate match in preparation for the World Cup against the national team of Mali (97-58)in Saragossathanks, above all, to the high percentage of success from the triple (64%).
The base duo Iyana Martin and Maite Cazorla, with 13 and 12 points respectively, made the Prince Felipe audience vibrate and ‘La Familia’ continues undefeated in the preparation prior to the Berlin World Cup. On Sunday, the last test against China.
Spain entered the meeting with much clearer ideas. Miguel Méndez, who in the four preparation games has not repeated any quintet, initially opted for the pair of game directors formed by Cazorla and Iyana to speed up the game.
A strategy that went perfectly because after two minutes, the locals already dominated 10-0, highlighted by a triple from Spar Girona’s new base and a layup on the counterattack by Pueyo.
In the second quarter, the Africans reacted. They were more aggressive in defense and Spain barely scored 3 points in the first 6 minutes, but with two triples from the Canary Islands Maite Cazorla and one of Iyanaconsecutively, gave no option to the Africans.
Precisely the latter, the most outstanding player in the entire preparation of the Spanish team, added 10 points in the last minutes and the European runners-up doubled the lead on the scoreboard 50-26.
Mali accused the decline of Mariam Coulibaly, MVP last season in the Endesa Women’s League. The African players were very inaccurate in front of the basket and with poor shooting percentages, just 26%.
After the restart, the monologue of the Spanish team continued, taking advantage of their success from the three-point line, as well as the steals of the ball and dominance on the rebound to get out quickly in transition.
He coach Mendez He demanded that the players “not lose concentration”, especially in defense, and his players did not take their foot off the accelerator to achieve, once again, a great 97-58 victory. There are now four wins in the four preparation games.
Technical sheet
97 – Spain (25+25+25+22): Cazorla (12), Martín (13), Pueyo (7), Araújo (6), Ginzo (7) -initial quintet-Buenavida (7), Etxarri (5), Ortiz (6), Torrens (13), Vilaró (11), Pendande (6) and Hermosa (4).
58 – Mali (14+12+19+13): Doumbia (3), Maimouna (2), Ndiaye (10), Dembelé (6), A. Sangare (11) -starting quintet-, Sissoko (1), Sanou (-), Sidiki (4), D. Sangare (-), Kamite (15), Balayera (-), Coulibaly (2), Cissé (4).
Referees: Roberto Lucas (Spain), Xavi Torres (Spain), Sandra Sánchez (Spain).
Incidents: friendly match played at the Príncipe Felipe Pavilion (Zaragoza).
‘La Familia’ could not count on the two stars Awa Fam and María Condewho have already joined the concentration from the WNBA league and watched the match from the bench.
On Sunday the preparation tour will close against the powerful China, one of the favorites in the next World Cup and, on Monday, the final squad of 12 players that will travel to Berlin will be made official. The duel between Spain and Mali will be repeated on the second day of the World Cup on September 5.
