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FIBA Europe Under 16 Division B
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The FIBA Europe U16 European Championship Division B tournament is currently the second international youth basketball festival taking place in Romania.With Belarus not appearing England, Estonia and Slovenia from Group C have already qualified for the quantifying round.
Romania opened the competition against Lithuania, a team relegated from Division A and came out second best.
Lithuania scored the first 5 points of the game to never look back as they cruised to victory (62-47) with 17 points coming from Justina Kraujunaite.
In the other game from Group C Bulgaria needed a third-quarter 18-7 blitz to overcome Israel (65-50).
Borislava Hristova did most of the damage with 28 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals and 1 block in her match winning performance.
Yet the team's performance of the day belongs to Switzerland who beat Ireland (74-43).
Switzerland's last preliminary round victory was in 2008 during their first appearance in a Division B event. They went on to finish 13th that year.
Ireland do not present teams these days at U18 and U20 level and have a history of being one of the most physical teams, an asset that makes them difficult to play against.
Switzerland put together a 14-0 run during the first quarter to lead (19-4) with seven minutes played. They went into the second quarter (24-10) ahead. By half time they had stretched the advantage to 16 points (37-21).
Ireland could do nothing right and with Katie Maloney in foul problems fell further behind after conceding 15 unanswered points (23-53) with 13 minutes to play.
Romain Gaspoz (in picture), the Swiss coach, was able to give all his players a run as his side cruised to victory. All 12 players got on the score sheet and with Dijana Milenkovic as the top scorer with 19 points.
In the other group game Bulgaria beat Israel (65-50).
In Groups A and B there was no real surprise: Ukraine thumped Luxembourg (90-55) while Portugal beat Latvia (64-57). In the only game from Group B, England came out on top against Estonia (49-41). England won just one quarter, the second one with 27-9. Yet it was enough to hold onto the lead.
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Basketball picture credits: FIBA Europe
Swiss Basketball
U16 Division A
Final Round
21 August 2011: Spain beat Belgium in final for another trophy
20 August 2011: Belgium and Spain are the finalists - France: not going to U17 World Championship
19 August 2011: Belgium, Italy, Spain and Turkey in semi-final
Qualifying Round
17 August 2011: France clinch quarter-final spot
16 August 2011: Italy & Belgium qualify while France lose again
15 August 2011: Italy shock France
Preliminary Round
15 August 2011: Finland eliminated by hosts Italy
12 August 2011: France win while three teams are eliminated from title race
11 August 2011: France lose to Turkey by 1 point
U16 Division B
Final Round
21 August 2011: Germany takes trophy home
20 August 2011: England and Germany going to Division A
19 August 2011: Bulgaria, England, Germany and Latvia qualify for semi-final
Qualifying Round
17 August 2011: Quarter-final bracket set
16 August 2011: All quarter-finalists still not known
15 August 2011: Germany, Lithuania and Portugal going strong
Preliminary Round
15 August 2011: Luxembourg's struggles continue
12 August 2011: Ireland and Israel eliminated
11 August 2011: Switzerland start well