The Belgian Cats won their first friendly game yesterday against Holland. It was a 70-59 victory for coach Mestdagh’s team as Julie Vanloo led the team with 13 points. Only Noémie Mayombo was the only other player scoring in double figures with 10 points, which emphasises the collective effort in the win. Routinier Hendrickx and Kim Mestdagh both scored 9 and youngsters Linskens and Geldof added 7 and 9 points.

The game also meant the return of Emma Meesseman in the national team. She contributed 8 points and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes of courttime, the most of any player on the team yesterday.

After a great start, Belgium raced out to an early 15-4 lead, and 18-11 after the first quarter. Holland did manage to stay in the game, mainly due to the game-high 15 point effort of Kourtney Treffers. After a 32-29 halftime score, Belgium never looked back and continued to expand the lead while also taking care of the defensive end, limiting Holland to only 15 points in each quarter.

With all 12 players getting playtime, coach Mestdagh got a lot of chances to test out different line-ups in preparation of the qualification game against Belarus on November 25th. He will continue to do that in the upcoming games against Finland on Friday and Saturday in Namur.

Belgium – Netherlands 70-59
18-11/32-29/51-44/70-59
Belgium: 16/35 – 2pts, 7/18 – 3pts, 17/19 LF, 39 rebonds, 13 assists, 19 TO, 22 f. K. Linskens 7 (1×3), Geldof 9, K. Mestdagh 9, Delaere, Hendrickx 9 (1×3), Carpréaux, N. Mayombo 10 (2×3), Meesseman 8 (8 rbds), Raman 1, Ben Abdelkader 4, Nauwelaers, Vanloo 13 (3×3)
BOX SCORE