Belgium finally got back on the winning track on Sunday in beating France 72-63 to capture seventh place at the 2007 EuroBasket Women.

Ann Wauters had 25 points and eight rebounds while Anke De Mondt scored 13 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter as Belgium snapped a four-game losing streak after winning their first four games of the tournament.

“This win was important for the team. We worked hard and we wanted it. We showed we

		Gruda will be honoured before the gold medal game as FIBA Europe Young Women's Player of the Year.

were a real team. We could have done better,” said Wauters.

“It's too bad it's only for the seventh place. We wished we could have been competing for fifth, but it's too late now. We finished in a positive way and now the tournament is over.”

Sandrine Gruda, who later Sunday will be honoured as the 2006 FIBA Europe Young Women's Player of the Year, was France's only weapon, scoring 21 of her 23 points in the final 15 minutes and grabbing eight rebounds.

“It was a psychological blow for us to lose our previous game (against Lithuania) and it was very difficult for us to be motivated for this game against Belgium,” said the 20-year-old Gruda.

France led after the first quarter 19-18 despite nine points from Wauters.

The game was even 24-24 when Belgium went on an 8-0 run before opening a 32-28 lead the break.

The Belgians continued their hot spurt with the first nine points of the second half to push the gap to 41-28 with 5:37 left in the third.

But France snapped out of their funk and went on a 19-6 spurt with Gruda scoring the final eight points, including the jumper just before the buzzer to knot the game at 47-47 after three periods.

Celine Dumerc's basket gave France the lead 49-47 to complete the 21-6 surge, but that's when De Mondt stepped up, hitting eight straight points including two three-pointers for a 55-51 cushion.

France closed to within 60-57 before De Mondt and Kathy Wambe drained back-to-back bombs to re-establish a 66-57 advantage. Gruda was the only Frenchwoman who seemed to offer Belgium any resistance, scoring 21 of France's final 24 points.

Wambe finished with 14 points for Belgium.

The classification game for the seventh place is the least popular and eye-catching game of the last day, but sometimes it turns into a very interesting game.

This game has no meaning other than pride and good feeling, but don't underestimate that.

After making it to the semi-finals nobody wants to go home with three straight losses.

A last game win will make the bitter feeling a little more sweet.

Each team will try to bounce back from a different scenario.

France suffered two achingly close losses in the last two games, while Belgium suffered two big losses by 25 and 19 point difference.

		Ann Wauters will have her hands full with Sandrine Gruda.

History shows that France has never lost to Belgium in all their five EuroBasket encounters.

The last of them was four years ago in the classification games for the fifth place and France won by 19.

Yet another reason for Belgium, if there is a need for one, to fight for a win.

Last Result: France led almost the entire game but saw Lithuania come back from behind to shock them 67-65 and kick them back to the 7-8 classification game. Belgium had to suffer an angry Czech team and suffered their biggest loss here, 75-50, after trailing big from the early minutes.

Key Matchup: Present against future meets here. 27-years-old Ann Wauters of Belgium will take on 20-year-old Sandrine Gruda of France. Two great inside players who both showed their great skills here in the first eight games. Gruda will use this game to try and pick up some tricks from Wauters experience. Two of the best inside players in the competition go one on one.

X-Factor: Isabelle Yacoubou of France is another young inside player who's showing a lot of potential in this tournament. If she will join Gruda in a big game Belgium will have a tough time denying two dominating inside players.

Key Stats: After keeping the ball better than any other team in the tournament Belgium had more than 20 turnovers in each of the last two games. Against France, one of the best and most aggressive teams on defense here, they'll have to recover from it.