Meesseman leads Belgium to women’s FIBA World Cup quarterfinals, Puerto Rico eliminates Turkey

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BERLIN (AP) — Emma Meesseman led Belgium to the quarterfinals of women’s FIBA World Cup and Puerto Rico finished strongly to eliminate Turkey in their final group games on Monday.

Meesseman had 22 points and 10 rebounds to help Belgium top Australia 80-68 for first place in Group C.

The European champions are now off until Thursday. Australia faces a qualifying playoff on Wednesday against the loser of the Italy-China matchup that takes place later Monday.

Belgium had a five-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, before using a 11-2 run to start the period and gain a double-digit advantage. The Opals couldn’t recover.

The pro-Belgian crowd cheered on their team, waving flags in support.

Arella Guirantes led Puerto Rico with 21 points for a 75-71 win over Turkey.

Puerto Rico was trailing by seven points going into the final quarter, but Imani McGee-Stafford scored and Pamela Rosado followed with two 3-pointers to take a 59-58 lead.

Turkey power forward Elif Bayram went off early in the final quarter with what looked a left leg injury.

Turkey fans outnumbered their counterparts at Berlin’s Max-Schmeling-Halle and they tried to put off Guirantes but couldn’t stop her from securing the win with two free throws.

Puerto Rico next plays the winner between Italy-China on Wednesday.

Belgium's Julie Allemand became the all-time women’s FIBA World Cup assist leader in the game. She got the record-breaking assist when Meesseman hit two free throws with 1:58 left in the first half against Australia.

FIBA gives an assist out when a player is fouled and makes the free throws. Allemand passed Laia Palau of Spain, who had 108 assists in her career.

Allemand started the tournament in eighth place all-time with 87, but had 17 assists in her first two games to get within striking distance of the record.

She finished the game with seven assists to give her 111 in World Cup play.

The four group winners progress directly to Thursday’s quarterfinals, while the teams that finish second and third face playoffs Tuesday or Wednesday to determine which join the group winners already through to the final eight. The bottom teams are eliminated.

Host Germany (1-1) faces Mali (1-1), and Spain (1-1) plays Japan (1-1) later with all scenarios open in Group A. Any one of the four teams can win the group and progress to the quarterfinals or finish bottom and be eliminated.

France (2-0), already through to the quarterfinals, plays already eliminated Nigeria (0-2) later, with Hungary and South Korea (both 1-1) contesting second place in Group B.

Italy (1-1), after coming close to upsetting the United States Sunday night, faces China (1-1) to decide second place in Group D. The U.S. (2-0) has already advanced to the quarterfinals before its final group game against the Czech Republic, which was eliminated after two losses.

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