Latvia and Spain remain unbeaten in the EuroBasket Women 2009 edition in Latvia and are already assured a place in the quarter-finals.
The Slovak Republic are one stepper closer to qualifying for the quarter-finals after beating Poland.
You will also find some after match audio comments in French by Martina Gyurcsi and Laia Palau and in English by Evanthia Maltsi and Liene Jansone.
You can read more about the games of interest by clicking on the following links or scrolling down the page:
Latvia enjoy playing EuroBasket Women in Riga
Jana Veselá silenced the home side with the first points of the game with just 21 seconds played.
And Petra Kulichová again from the Czech Republic scored to increase the lead (4-0).
Latvia got into their stride with Anete Jekabsone-Zogota scoring back to back baskets. However the Czech Republic were not bothered by the crowd's reaction.
With Eva Vitecková making her shots from beyond the arc they led (17-12) after seven minutes played.
Latvia put a block on Vitecková so it fell to Tereza Peckova to score from beyond the arc.
In the meantime Jekabsone-Zogota was starting to hit shots for Latvia as her side clawed their way back into the game (19-20).
Both teams continued to play at pace and with four seconds left in the first quarter Veselá from the Czech Republic made it up to mid-court.
She then got the ball to Michala Hartigová who took two steps forward before firing off a shot that hit the back board and bounced in for a period-buzzer ending three-pointer (23-19).
Latvia continued to shoot from outside the paint without success while the Czech Republic reverted to alternating their inside and outside routines to extend their advantage (29-21).
Ainars Zvirgzdins , the Latvian coach, was quick to notice this and called for a time-out.
His players stopped the shooting and started to attack the basket with success as they forced their opponents into fouling them. So they scored 5 unanswered points.
Latvia's comeback was complete when Gunta Basko was left free at the top of the key just beyond the arc to hit a three-pointer.
With 17 minutes played the teams were level (29-29).
Milan Veverka, the coach from the Czech Republic, immediately called a time-out.
Jekabsone-Zogota at the end of the quarter to take Latvia into the interval leading (34-31).
Jekabsone-Zogota led the scoring at the interval with 14 points while Vitecková was on 10 points for the Czech Republic.
Latvia came out firing on all cylinders at the start of the third quarter. They chased everything and did not allow their guests to settle.
Jekabsone-Zogota was inspirational and made space where there was none. She drove to the basket (44-35) to score. This forced the Czech coach to call for another time-out.
It really did not matter what the Czech Republic did Latvia found an answer. They opened a 10-point lead (47-37) as Liene Jansone hit a baseline three-pointer.
Then the Czech Republic stopped playing their own game and tried to play like Latvia. This resulted in them falling further behind by the end of the third period (38-53).
Latvia were once again quicker out of the starting blocks with Ieva Tare scoring 2 points and Jekabsone-Zogota a trey (58-38) to move 20 points clear with just over eight minutes left to play.
The Czech Republic had no answers for Latvia.
Despite the defensive efforts of Veselá and Kulichová there was no stopping Latvia as they increased their advantage (61-39) with five minutes to play.
Latvia ended up winning (65-47).
EuroBasket Women 2009 Box Scores .
EuroBasket women 2009 audio after match comments
Liene Jansone
(Note: If you are using Internet Explorer click twice on the triangle)
Four teams go home
Five teams qualify for the next phase
EuroBasket Women news from day 1
Return from EuroBasket Women 2009 finals to "What's New" page
Return to Senior International Basketball
EuroBasket Women 2009 pictures credits :
womensbasketball-in-france.com
Date: 11 June 2009
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Agnieszka Bibrzycka scored from the very first attack of the match with just under 12 seconds on the game clock.
The Slovak Republic then held on to the ball for the next minutes before finally knocking in their first points of the game by Katarina Hrickova.
Zuzana Zirková then started to run the ball. Despite missing her first attempt, she went for the rebound and started another attack which she finished off with a lay-up.
The Slovak Republic were tight in defense and kept Poland at bay with Lucia Kupcikova blocking everything insight. They increased their lead by going on a 10-0 run (14-3).
Bibrzycka finally ended Poland’s barren spell. She received a pass from Magdalena Leciejewska while driving to the basket to score Poland’s first points from open play since the opening 12 seconds with eight minutes played (5-14).
Poland started to play with more confidence.
Bibrzycka who was left open at the top of the key then hit the first three-pointer of the game (8-14) for the last point of the first period.
Nothing happened much during the first two minutes of the second period. Except Justyna Jeziorna from Poland went down at mid-court. She left the court for treatment and eventually returned to the game.
The Slovak Republic's troubles continued as they missed shots which worked in favour of Poland who had a scoring festival.
Agata Gajda finished a fast break with a lay-up and then Bibrzycka hit back to back three-pointers for Poland to go in front for the first time in the match (16-14) after scoring 13 consecutive points.
Zirková finally ended the eight minutes without scoring for the Slovak Republic with a running jump shot from outside the paint.
Poland however continued to control the game with Bibrzycka causing mayhem on and off the ball.
This enabled Gajda to skip through the Slovak Republic's defense to score.
Paulina Pawlak from Poland also started to wave her magic in the opponents' half of the court. She either scored or set up scoring opportunities for her team-mates.
Yet Bibrzycka was on hand once more with her fourth trey of the match as Poland went into the locker room leading (28-22).
The Slovak Republic went to a player-on-player marking system at the start of the third period while Poland applied a zone defensive system.
The result was hard offensive basketball from both sides with bodies flying all over the place as the two teams went for their shots.
The Slovak Republic did better than their opponents and made up their deficit and were level (35-35) with 26 minutes played.
Bibrzycka drew a foul but went down 30 seconds later and had to leave the court to check her ankle.
Poland's lead slowly evaporated as the game was tied (35-35) after 26 minutes of play. However Bibrzycka was to return by the end of the quarter.
In the meantime the Slovak Republic took full advantage of her absence to take the lead which they held until the end of the third quarter (43-40).
The Slovak Republic gave up their play marking system and switched to zone to start the fourth quarter.
They increased their lead after a jump shop from Zirková and a trey from Martina Gyurcsi (48-40) with just 90 seconds of the fourth quarter played.
The game became rather untidy and a little rough as the players did not allow anybody any space. However the Slovak Republic with the resourceful Gyurcsi opened up the biggest lead of the game (58-46) with five minutes remaining.
Zirková's second trey of the game (61-50) was strange as the ball bounced off the ring and the backboard before dropping in. Pokey Chatman, the coach from the Slovak Republic, asked her players to stop playing zone and switched to player-to-player marking for the closing minutes.
Poland came to within 4 points but the Slovak Republic never appeared to be in trouble and ended up winning (65-56).
Martina Gyurcsi
Alba Torrens was quick off the mark for Spain and was everywhere on the court during the first minute of play.
Greece weathered the early storm and drew level during the second minute of play as Evanthia Maltsi hit a baseline jumper.
Both teams were playing hard defensively and the players were required to work hard for their points.
Cindy Lima scored for Spain while Pelagia Papamichail and Aikaterina Sotiriou connected for Greece to take the lead (6-4) with five minutes played.
Spain then stepped on the accelerator and within a space of 26 seconds hit back to back three-pointer from Styliani Kaltsidou and Maltsi to complete a 10-0 run.
Evaristo Pérez, the coach from Spain, called for a time-out and made some tactical changes.
Immediately after the break Spain found their way to the basket with a trey from Anna Montañana and a lay-up from Torrens.
The tempo of the game increased and Spain made up the deficit and drew level through Laia Palau with 26 minutes remaining in the first period. 
On the buzzer Pelagia Papamichail from Greece fired in a reverse spin hook shot and drew a foul. She hit the free-throw for Greece to edge the first period (18-15).
Styliani Kaltsidou and Maltsi increased the advantage for Greece with early baskets in the second period (22-15).
Spain made matters worse for themselves with complicated pass routines that were easily intercepted. Yet they finally scored.
Silvia Dominguez who was left open beyond the arc at 45 degrees successfully shot a ball after Palau managed to draw the Greece defense onto her.
Elisa Aguilar was to add a second trey from a similar position that forced the Greek head coach Konstantinos Missas to call for a time-out although his team was leading (25-23).
Afterwards nothing much changed for Greece as Palau was left free from a similar position from beyond the arc to take Spain back into the lead (26-25).
The Spanish three-point festival came to an end and Montañana added to Spain's advantage two trips to the free-throw line.
Maltsi was given Spain problems as she single-handedly put Greece back in the lead with 10 points which included a couple of three-pointers (35-34).
Spain went into the interval leading (39-35) with Aguilar scoring the last 5 points of the half.
Spain dominated the third period and scored 16 unanswered points to complete a 21-0 run to lead by 20 points(55-35) after nearly 28 minutes of play.
They also kept Maltsi closely guarded during that period and more or less killed the game as a contest.
Greece's first basket in the quarter will be credited to Papamichail but actually Lima from Spain deflected her shot into the basket.
Malsi was finally allowed to run with the ball and drove to the basket and was fouled. She made her free-throws and then was taken off for a break.
Spain were then playing their bench and went into the final quarter leading (57-39).
The two teams continued to play their bench for the first two minutes of the final period. However with only Isabel Sanchez scoring for Spain, both coaches decided to call some of their senior players back into action.
The game lost all intensity with Spain leading (62-40) with five minutes remaining.
Spain stay unbeaten with a (67-48) victory.
Laia Palau
Jana Veselá silenced the home side with the first points of the game with just 21 seconds played.
And Petra Kulichová again from the Czech Republic scored to increase the lead (4-0).
Latvia got into their stride with Anete Jekabsone-Zogota scoring back to back baskets. However the Czech Republic were not bothered by the crowd's reaction.
With Eva Vitecková making her shots from beyond the arc they led (17-12) after seven minutes played.
Latvia put a block on Vitecková so it fell to Tereza Peckova to score from beyond the arc.
In the meantime Jekabsone-Zogota was starting to hit shots for Latvia as her side clawed their way back into the game (19-20).
Both teams continued to play at pace and with four seconds left in the first quarter Veselá from the Czech Republic made it up to mid-court.
She then got the ball to Michala Hartigová who took two steps forward before firing off a shot that hit the back board and bounced in for a period-buzzer ending three-pointer (23-19).
Latvia continued to shoot from outside the paint without success while the Czech Republic reverted to alternating their inside and outside routines to extend their advantage (29-21).
Ainars Zvirgzdins, the Latvian coach, was quick to notice this and called for a time-out.
His players stopped the shooting and started to attack the basket with success as they forced their opponents into fouling them. So they scored 5 unanswered points.
Latvia's comeback was complete when Gunta Basko was left free at the top of the key just beyond the arc to hit a three-pointer.
With 17 minutes played the teams were level (29-29).
Milan Veverka, the coach from the Czech Republic, immediately called a time-out.
The two teams continued their battle. It took some magic and bravery from Jekabsone-Zogota at the end of the quarter to take Latvia into the interval leading (34-31).
Jekabsone-Zogota led the scoring at the interval with 14 points while Vitecková was on 10 points for the Czech Republic.
Latvia came out firing on all cylinders at the start of the third quarter. They chased everything and did not allow their guests to settle.
Jekabsone-Zogota was inspirational and made space where there was none. She drove to the basket (44-35) to score. This forced the Czech coach to call for another time-out.
It really did not matter what the Czech Republic did Latvia found an answer. They opened a 10-point lead (47-37) as Liene Jansone hit a baseline three-pointer.
Then the Czech Republic stopped playing their own game and tried to play like Latvia. This resulted in them falling further behind by the end of the third period (38-53).
Latvia were once again quicker out of the starting blocks with Ieva Tare scoring 2 points and Jekabsone-Zogota a trey (58-38) to move 20 points clear with just over eight minutes left to play.
The Czech Republic had no answers for Latvia.
Despite the defensive efforts of Veselá and Kulichová there was no stopping Latvia as they increased their advantage (61-39) with five minutes to play.
Latvia ended up winning (65-47).
Liene Jansone
