Slow start costs Australia at U17 WC

A standout performance from Vanessa Panousis could not stop Australia from falling to their second defeat of the FIBA Under 17 Women’s World Championship, going down to the Netherlands 70-62 in Amsterdam in the early hours of Monday morning AEST.

Australian point guard Vanessa Panousis

After quiet games against Spain and Brazil the 17-year-old point guard exploded into life, scoring a team-high 23 points in addition to five rebounds and four steals.

A 27-7 first quarter in favour of the Netherlands left the Australian squad with too much to do, eventually cutting the final margin back to eight points.

While Panousis did the bulk of the Australian scoring she was well supported by young centre Lauren Scherf, who rewarded coach Marissa Fillipou’s faith by compiling 11 points and 9 rebounds from her 27 minutes.

The Dutch came out of the blocks firing, going on a 19-0 run midway through the opening quarter to have the Australians down by 20 points at the end of the first period.

A determined fight back led by Panousis saw Australia cut the lead to 12 points at the half, but despite their best efforts couldn’t overhaul the early advantage handed to their opponents.

The team won’t have to wait long to try and square their ledger as they prepare to face Turkey on Wednesday morning at 5:15am AEST, their fourth match of the tournament.

Boxscore