Belgium’s national women’s basketball team the Belgian Cats have written history, taking gold at the European Basketball Championships. Despite a shaky start a strong final offensive saw the Belgian Cats claim victory over Spain in Sunday evening’s final. This was the crowning glory for a team that had played some attractive basketball throughout the tournament.
Іt could have been tiredness or simply stress, but the Belgian Cats were mediocre in the early stages of the game to say the least. It wasn’t so much the breakneck tempo of their Spanish opponents that caused them issues early on but rather the fact that they made life difficult for themselves.
When in doubt there is one option: pass to Emma Meesseman. This worked initially and the Belgian Cats were able to keep up. However, the Cats started to lose possession more and more and this started to be reflected in the score. The Spaniards were all too happy to make the most of the 13 Belgian turnovers and scored 16 points because of them. By the break the Belgians were 7 points behinds. Our women looked frustrated as they knew that they could do better.
The latter half of the game was a different story. Turnovers became (almost) a thing of the past and the Belgian Cats fought for every ball and never gave up hope of bridging the gap.
The turning point came when Emma Meesseman scored a three-pointer. Just three minutes later Spain were behind for the first time in the game. With just 4 minutes on the clock the Belgians continued to go on the offensive. They widened their lead and the match ended 58 – 64 in Belgium’s favour.
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