The knockout rounds of the World Cup started on Tuesday with teams looking to advance to the quarterfinals on Thursday. France directly qualified to that round so they get a bye before facing China, but the rest of the Valkyries players started in the first elimination round.
Kokoro Tanaka
Japan faced Hungary on Tuesday, but they fell behind early and ended up losing 84-63. Kokoro Tanaka paced them with 11 points in 20 minutes. She led the team in scoring and also finished second in assists as she has continued to emerge for them.
Cecilia Zandalasini vs Miela Sowah
It was Italy against Australia to close the round in a battle between Valkyries players. Australia had the lead despite dealing with mounting injuries and looked ready to advance. Italy came back and tied the score late only to lose 82-80 as Cecilia Zandalasini had 9 points in 33 minutes. Miela Sowah played 6 minutes as Australia will face Spain in the quarterfinals. Stephanie Talbot had 14 points and 9 rebounds in 30 minutes and Chloe Bibby had 6 points in 18 minutes.
It was a memorable tournament for Italy even though there were some tough losses. Zandalasini led them in scoring as she entered the tournament as the team’s established veteran. Their team is still on the younger side and ready to enter their primes together so this is likely not their final global tournament run together after the country had been absent from this stage for such a long time.
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