FIBA Europe U20 European Championship Women Div B, day 1

There are only 10 countries participating at the FIBA Europe U20 European championship this year.

The hosts Macedonia and Austria competition will start on day 2

You can read highlights of the FIBA Europe basketball news from the day's actions by clicking on the links below or by scrolling down the page:

Israel 62-44 Greece

Slovak Republic 68-72 Portugal

Great Britain 61-42 Belgium

Czech Republic 81-72 Hungary

The first five minutes of the contest was a case of the main players from each team marking their territory: Angeliki Nikolopoulou and Antigoni Chairistanidou for Greece and Naama Shafir, Mayan Dagan and Idit Oryon for Israel were dictating the pace with both sides tied (8-8).

Disaster stroke early for Greece with Ioanna Diela picking up a nasty head wound that required her to leave for hospital treatment.

The pace of the game dropped as both teams neutralized each other until Keren Nechama broke the dead lock with a mid-court interception and a clear run to the basket for Israel to edge the first quarter (18-16).

Israel took charge of the game early in the second quarter with Shira Shecht and Shafir connecting from the land of many as they opened up the first significant lead of the game (29-18) with 14 minutes played.

The heat in the arena made it more difficult for both teams to play fast flowing basketball for the rest of the quarter.

The intensity dropped: Sharif led the scoring with 12 points as Israel headed into the locker room ahead (38-28).

The Shafir and Shecht show continued for Israel with shooting 14 of their team's 18 third-quarters points. Israel led by as many as 22 points before settling for an 18-point advantage (56-39) going into the final quarter.

The game fizzled out during the final quarter with both coaches making plenty of changes.

Israel won the game (62-44) with Shafir and Shecht leading the way for Israel with 19 points each. No other player from either team scored in double digits.

Diela's cut was treated and she was allowed to play again during the match for Greece.

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The Slovak Republic made the mistake of allowing Joana Bernardeco from Portugal too much space beyond the arc as her team went on an 11-0 run to lead (17-5) with just over five minutes played.

Portugal were playing at pace and won the battle of the boards as they blitzed the first quarter (27-14) with an impressive 10-of-16 from the field which included 4-of-5 from the land of many.

The Slovak Republic put an end to the Portuguese dominance and clawed their way back into the game with fast breaks. They trailed (27-31) with three minutes left to play in the first half.

The teams finished the quarter hitting basket for basket and Portugal went into the locker room ahead (37-31).

The Slovak Republic switched to a player-on-player defensive system after the break and managed to stop their opponents having open shots. But they were penalised for their aggressive defense allowing Portugal to score 13 consecutive free throws to hold on to the lead (54-48) after 28 minutes.

Veronika Cernáková from the Slovak Republic was leading her team on with 15 points. Yet the solid work in the paint and perfect free-throw shooting by Sofia Da Silva kept Portugal in front (56-48) going into the final quarter.

Maria Felixova continued to pound the boards and score points for the Slovak Republic while Alexandra Baburová was running all over the court as they clawed themselves back into the game (62-65) with three minutes to play.

Da Silva came to the rescue of Portugal with 2 more points.

The Slovak Republic had many changes to tie the game while trailing (65-67) with the game in money-time.

Marcy Goncalves then forced her way into the paint with 25 seconds to play.

She scored as well as drawing the foul. She kept her calm at the free-throw line. However with nine seconds left to play Veronika Cernáková fired in a big three-pointer.

Da Silva was fouled with about 2.7 seconds to play. She calmly made her free-throws to secure the victory (72-68).

De Silva went a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line to lead the scoring with 21 points for Portugal while Maria Correia (abbove left) contributed 13.

Cernáková, Felixova and Baburová all finished in double digits with 20, 15 and 12 points each.

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Great Britain opened the game with a (6-0). But then early fouls allowed Emmanuella Mayombo to open the scoring for Belgium.

Neither side was coping with the heat early on and most of the scoring game from the free-throw line with Great Britain leading (13-6) with eight minutes played.

Mary Durojaye finally scored from open play for GB to lead (15-6) at the end of the first quarter.

Both teams stepped up in the second quarter and the game became intense.

Great Britain continued to win the battle under their offensive boards and stretched their lead (21-10) with 14 minutes played in the second quarter.

Kashmere Joseph for Great Britain was having a productive time for Great Britain at both ends of the court as her side stretched their advantage (27-12).

Damien Jennings, the Great Britain coach, was changing his players regularly in the heat and was rewarded as the advantage grew (32-14) with two minutes to play before the break.

Miete Celius picked up the pace for Belgium as they finished the quarter stronger with a 7-0 run. They finished it off with three-point baseline buzzer beater by Caroline Bourlioux to reduce GB´s advantage to (32-21).

Great Britain was a new team after the break and went on an 11-2 run to go 20 points clear (43-23) with just under 25 minutes played.

Belgium once again picked themselves up and scored back to back points. The game became faster and more physical with GB maintaining the lead (50-32) going into the final quarter.

The heat finally caught on the players with just 2 points scored by Rebecca Allison for Great Britain in the first three minutes of the final quarter (54-32).

Katrin Chiemeka drew foul after foul and with an almost perfect free-throwing exercise extended the Great Britain advantage (61-36) with three minutes left to play.

Great Britain won (61-42).

Chiemeka led a balanced Great Britain attack with 15 points. Mary Durojaya followed up with 12 points. For Belgium Mayombo and Celius scored 12 points each.

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The last game of the day saw the Czech Republic take on Hungary. Neither side came out firing on all cylinders.

They played cat and mouse for the first 20 minutes with the Czech Republic having the better of the first half (44-34) with Alena Hanusova leading the way with 12 points.

Both teams stepped up in intensity after the break and started to play basketball in the youth tradition of their federations: three-point shooting, fast breaks and no look passes with the Czech Republic holding onto the lead (64-56).

Hungary had been trailing from the 12th minute and were forced to take risks as they attempted to bring down the score. Yet each time they scored, their opponents hit back leaving them adrift by the same 8 points with the game in money time.

The Czech Republic controlled the closing minute to win (81-72).

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