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FIBA Europe U18 European Championship Women Division A
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The sixth day of the FIBA Europe U18 European Championship Women Division A went well for Slovenia, Sweden and the Ukraine as they picked up the final tickets for the quarter-finals.
Slovenia, back to full strength, saw off Serbia (57-42) to clinch third place in Group E.
However the big match in this group was between the hosts, the Slovak Republic and Sweden.
The match lived up to its billing and had everything that is expected in a winner-take-all match. The game went to the wire with Mia Hakim from Sweden securing the victory from the charity stripes.
In the final game in Group E, Spain beat Russia (54-47) to keep their perfect record.
Alina Iagupova from Ukraine erupted and poured in 42 points which included the game-winning shot in her side's victory (72-71) against Poland. The Ukraine picked up the last ticket from Group F for the quarter-final.
Lithuania were not very motivated for their game with Turkey and ended up losing (65-80).
Özge Kavurmacioglu led Turkey with 22 points. Yet the victory came too late for Turkey as they had already been eliminated from the competition.
France scored the most points so far against Italy but ended up losing (58-62). With the game in the last minute of overtime everything was equal (58-58).
Francesca Dotto went 3-of-4 from the free-throw line as Italy kept their perfect record.
The quarter-final pairings are:
Spain vs. Ukraine
Russia vs. France
Italy vs. Sweden
Lithuania vs. Slovenia
In the relegation group Belgium crushed Hungary (74-34) while the Czech Republic beat Latvia (85-56).
Mission accomplished for Slovenia
Ukraine sneak past Poland
Slovak Republic bow out
Look back on the news from Day five
Mission accomplished for Slovenia
Slovenia closed Serbia down while going on a 12-2 run to take hold of the game (17-6) by the end of the first quarter.
They were able to extend their lead slightly during the second quarter (28-13) while Serbia continued to shoot from beyond the arc without success.
After the break Nika Baric and Tjasa Gortnar paced Slovenia to victory (57-42) as they traded baskets for the rest of the match.
Baric played for 37 minutes and finished with 18 points and 4 assists while Ivana Brajkovic poured in 16 points and took 16 rebounds for Serbia.
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Ukraine are in the last eight
Alina Iagupova was back on fire with 42 points in the victory of the Ukraine against Poland (72-71).
Poland did their best with Magdalena Zietara, Kinga Bandyk and Agata Szczepanik. For a brief spell it looked like they might be able to pull off the victory as they went into the final quarter leading (59-54).
The match reached its climax in the final minutes with Iagupova scoring 11 of her team's 14 fourth-quarter points.
She hit what turned out to be the game winning shot from the land of many with just under two minutes to play .
The last minute was scrappy as both teams drove their coaches coaches mad.
With this victory for Ukraine Turkey found themselves eliminated before even playing their last match in the qualification round.
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Sweden are still in
With Slovenia beating Serbia the match between the Slovak Republic and Sweden became a straight knock-out match with the loser being eliminated.
The first quarter was fast and furious and ended all square (16-16).
Sweden took advantage of a drop in intensity of their opponents during the second quarter. With Farhiya Abd on fire they went into the interval leading (36-27).
After the break Sabína Oroszová fired in a couple of treys as the hosts opened with a 9-0 run to get the home fans applauding.The two teams then traded baskets for the rest of the quarter with Sweden holding the advantage (50-44) going into the final quarter.
Oroszová opened the last quarter with a trey for the Slovak Republic. By the time Martina Kissová scored to make it a 2-point game (51-53) with eight minutes to play, all the supporters were on their feet.
Amanda Zahui came to the rescue of Sweden with some big plays. But the Slovak Republic rallied back and with 53 seconds left to play the game was tied (57-57).
The match was decided at the free-throw line by Mia Hakim who was as cool as ice to hit her foul shots.
Sweden then held their nerve during the last 30 seconds to win (59-57).
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FIBA Europe U18 European Championship Women picture credits:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
FIBA Europe
Date created: 04 August 2010
