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EuroBasket Women 2011:
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The fifth playing day at the EuroBasket Women 2011 was all about how would Spain bounce back from their defeat against France. Another defeat would make qualification more complicated.
In today's opening game in Katowice, Spain gave their supporters something to celebrate after they beat Latvia (66-57).
It was not a vintage performance as Latvia gifted them 22 points from 19 turnovers. Sancho Lyttle and Anna Montañana combined for 32 points.
Poland were not able to break the Croatian defense and not only lost this match (56-64) but were also eliminated from EuroBasket 2011.
Montenegro stay unbeaten after their last match against France.
You can read the stories from the EuroBasket Women games of interest by selecting the link below.
Spain 66-57 Latvia
Croatia 64-56 Poland
Montenegro 73-68 France
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Spain are back in the EuroBasket women qualification chase
The story of this match is that Latvia failed to take care of the basketball and conceded 22 points off their own turnovers.
Spain also had Sancho Lyttle (left) back to her best dominating the paint. She also led the scoring with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Anna Montañana also scored 16 points and dished out 6 assists while Alba Torrens and Laia Palau added 11 and 10 points each.
For Latvia Elina Babkina scored 17 points. But her 7 turnovers were costly. However the performance of Zane Tamane who was in foul problems from the first minute of the game was positive as she managed to score 11 points and not foul out while Ieva Kublina scored 12 points.
Eurobasket Women game report: Spain took advantage of Latvia's turnovers
Spain were fast out of the starting blocks and led (6-0) with less than 90 seconds on the clock with Sancho Lyttle scoring 4 points.
Nothing was going right for Latvia. With just over three minutes played George Dikeoulakos, the Latvian coach called for a time-out. For once he could be heard from the rafters.
Immediately his players executed and boxed out keeping Lyttle away from the basket.
Despite early foul problems for Zane Tamane, she scored the first points for Latvia after almost four minutes.
Gunta Basko and Ieva Kublina got on the scoreboard to tie the game (6-6) resulting in José I. Hernández calling a time-out for Spain.
Spain regained the lead through Lucila Pascua. But Latvia were quickly back on level terms. However as usual for Spain Alba Torrens stepped up offensively for her team to edge the first quarter (13-10).
The second quarter was stop and go with no real rhythm. Lyttle took advantage of Zane's foul problems to score a few points.
Latvia managed to stay in touch with treys by Liene Jansone and Ieva Kublina. Yet unnecessary turnovers at the end of the quarter gifted Spain with points which enabled them to go into the locker room ahead (27-23).
The third quarter continued where the second quarter was left off with Spain scoring, this time through Elisa Aguilar. 5 points by Ieva Kublina from Latvia did not change much because Laia Palau was left open in the land of many to score.
Latvia's problem with Lyttle continued. With a little more than three minutes to play and trailing (32-39) Dikeoulakos called for a time-out.
Aquilar and Palau continued to control the pace of the game while Lyttle dominated the paint as Spain opened up a double-digit lead going into the final quarter (46-36).
51 seconds into the final quarter and 4 points by Anna Montañana (left) resulted in a Latvian time-out.
It has not been Marta Xargay's tournament so far. Today without the facemask, she hurt herself while chasing down Zane Eglite with seven minutes to play and had to be carried off the court.
Latvia's woes continued as the ball refused to drop while their turnovers were punished leaving the way open for Spain to win (66-57).
Spain's EuroBasket qualification still depends on results elsewhere but they are a step closer.
Spain: Laura Nicholls DNP, Cindy Lima 0, Silvia Dominguez 0, Alba Torrens 11, Lucila Pascua 2, Laia Palau 10, Elisa Aguilar 7 (5 assists), Marta Xargay 4, Anna Montañana 16 (6 assists), Amaya Valdemoro DNP, Sancho Lyttle 16 (9 rebounds), Anna Cruz 0
Latvia: Elina Babkina 17, Sabine Niedola 0, Zane Eglite 1, Zane Tamane 11, Gunta Basko 8, Liene Jansone, Liene Priede 0, Aija Putnina 1, Karline Nimane 2, Kristine Karklina 2, Ieva Kublina 12 (10 rebounds), Zane Jakobsone 0
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The hosts are eliminated
Croatia never trailed in this game. Even when the shots failed to drop they defended as if their lives depended on winning this game.
In the end they wanted the victory more. They also took advantage of Poland's problems in maintaining intensity during the second half of the game to win (64-56).
Sandra Mandir, the captain led with 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists while Luca Ivankovic (left) also scored 13 points and Mirna Mazic picked up 9 rebounds.
For Poland as usual Ewelina Kobryn and Elzbieta Mowlik carried the team offensively with 17 and 11 points each.
Although Poland are out of EuroBasket Women 2011 they still have to play France in their last game of the qualification round.
EuroBasket Women game report: Croatia's defense, too much for Poland
The first four minutes belonged to Croatia as they raced out to a (10-3) lead which forced the Polish coach to use an early time-out.
Poland picked themselves up. But poor free throwing (6-from-10) left them trailing (13-17) after seven minutes of play.
Sandra Mandir and Antonija Misura did most of the scoring for Croatia with 7 points each as they stayed in front.
Poland's free throwing improved. They went 4-for-4 while a Elzbieta Mowlik shot from beyond the arc brought made it a three-point game by the end of the quarter (21-24).
The second quarter was rather dull. There was a lot of pick-and-go plays, good defending and poor finishing. Croatia hit the big shots when necessary and extended their advantage heading into the locker room (44-38).
Knowing the loser of this match would be eliminated Poland came out more aggressive and had the better of the first five minutes to trail by just 2 points (46-48).
When Croatia switched to a player to player marking system and did not allow Poland to score again, they finished with a 7-0 run to regain the upper hand going into the final quarter (55-46).
The Polish reaction did not happen as they could not find a way past the Croatian force field.
Croatia were still in control despite not scoring any of their last eight consecutive three-point attempts.
Yet Iva Ciglar finally found the target with a shot from the land of many. These were the first points of the quarter with 6:24 to play.
When Ciglar scored again, this time finishing a transition play with a simple lay-up (60-46), Dariusz Maciejewski had to call a time-out for Poland.
After the time-out Poland started to close in on the score with Ewelina Kobryn and Mowlik scoring in a 6-0 run.
However this was as close as Poland got as the match fizzled out.
Poland, the host nation, are officially eliminated from EuroBasket Women 2011, while Croatia will meet Spain in a winner-take-all game.
Croatia: Sandra Mandir 13 (9 rebounds and 4 assists), Lisa Karcic 0, Antonija Misura 7, Marta Cakic 3, Neda Lokas 0, Mirna Mazic 6 (9 rebounds), Iva Ciglar 9, Ana Lelas DNP, Iva Sliskovic 6, Sena Pavetic DNP, Luca Ivankovic 13, Jelena Ivezic 7
Poland: Katarzyna Dzwigalska 5, Anna Pietrzak 3, Paulina Pawlak 0, Agnieszka Szott 6, Justyna Zurowska 6, Malgorzata Babicka 0, Elzbieta Mowlik 11, Patrycja Gulak 1, Ewelina Kobryn 17, Aleksandra Chomac 0, Agnieszka Kaczmarczyk 4, Agnieszka Skobel 3
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Montenegro's run continues
Montenegro have four players that just get on with the job. They simply take over from one another. Nothing France did, could stop them.
Iva Perovanovic did all the dirty work inside and came out with 22 points. Anna de Forge got the team going in the first quarter and then hit clutch shots later for 15 points while down the stretch Jelena Dubljevic was a monster and finished with 15 points.
Jelena Skerovic, the captain, kept everything in place and scored 13 points.
For France Nwal Endéné Miyem had 22 points while Céline Dumerc scored 13 points and dished out 6 assists.
EuroBasket Women match report: France did not dig deep enough
The two teams got down to business from the tip-off. The lead changed hands six times while the match was tied on two accessions. Céline Dumerc hit two shots from beyond the arc for France while Jelena Skerovic and Anna De Forge (with 9 first-quarter points) likewise for Montenegro.
Both teams had 8-0 runs with the one fom Montenegro coming at the end of the quarter for them to lead (22-20).
While the battle in the paint was intense the officials spent time telling the players to tuck in their jerseys.
While the battle in the paint was intense the officials spent time telling the players to tuck their jerseys in.
The second quarter continued in the same manner with the lead changing hands 10 times.
Montenegro broke the sequence of scoring at the end of the quarter with back to back scores from Skerovic and Iva Perovanovic for them to go into the locker room ahead (40-37).
Both teams continued their offensive game with first Montenegro scoring to go in front with 5 points.
France were soon back ahead with back to back scores from Nwal-Endéné Miyem (left) quickly followed by 2 points by Isabelle Yacoubou-Dehoui.
The lead was not to last long for France.
Jelena Dubljevic (right) then came up with the move of the game as she kind of used a triple jump technique from a standing position which she then finished with a nicely controlled scoop shot (46-43).
The basketball was getting better and better and Montenegro extended their advantage with a turn-around jumper from the old three-point line (52-47) after 26 minutes.
France came storming back. But Montenegro used a time-out to break the momentum.
The chase continued right to the last second with Montenegro holding onto the lead (57-55) going into the final quarter.
The pendulum swung both ways as the two sides were chasing the score.
Montenegro still maintained their advantage (65-61) with four minutes to play.
No matter what France did, Montenegro did better. With Dubljevic in top form Montenegro cruised to victory (73-68).
Montenegro: Sanja Knezevic DNP, Jelena Skerovic 13, Anna De Forge 15, Ana Beletic DNP, Milica Jovanovic DNP, Snezana Aleksic DNP, Jelena Dubljevic 15, Milka Bjelica 3, Iva Perovanovic 22, Ana Turcinovic 1, Natasa Popovic 4, Maja Milutinovic DNP
France: Isabelle Yacoubou-Dehoui 10, Nwal-Endéné Miyem 21, Clémence Beikes 6, Sandrine Gruda 8, Edwige Lawson-Wade 3, Céline Dumerc 13, Jennifer Digbeu 3, Emilie Gomis 2, Florence Lepron 0, Marion Laborde 0, Emméline Ndongue DNP, Aurélie Bonnan 2
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EuroBasket Women photo gallery
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EuroBasket Women 2011 basketball picture credits:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
Final Round: 29 June - 3 July
03 July 2011: Russia in Gold, Turkey have to settle for Silver
03 July 2011: France win Bronze
02 July 2011: Croatia are fifth
01 July 2011: Russia and Turkey have qualified for the final
30 June 2011: France will meet Turkey in second semi-final
29 June 2011: Russia and the Czech Republic qualify for semi-final
Qualifying Round: 22 June - 27 June
27 June 2011: Belarus sent packing by Turkey
26 June 2011: Spain have to pack their bags and go home
26 June 2011: Miodrag Baletic from Montenegro is impressed
25 June 2011: Great Britain cannot qualify for quarter-final
24 June 2011: Montenegro down France, while Poland are eliminated
24 June 2011: Coaches delight and Coaches woes
23 June 2011: Lithuania and the Czech Republic made to sweat but qualify
22 June 2011: Montenegro and Latvia qualify while France thump Spain
Preliminary Round: 18 June - 20 June
20 June 2011: Great Britain send Israel home
20 June 2011: Greece joins Germany on the bus home
19 June 2011: Five teams advance already in Bydgoszcz
19 June 2011: France and Spain fall while Montenegro qualify in Katowice
18 June 2011: France crush Croatia while Montenegro write history