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Termosteps U16 European Championship Women Division B SummaryThis year's Termosteps U16 European Championship Women Division B was the most open since its creation in 2005. In the first round of games only two teams managed to win all their group games: Finland from Group D and The Slovak Republic from Group C. The Netherlands were the most successful side from the nations that played in the Partnership Tournament.
The Dutch side opened the match with a (23-15) playing Adams, Butter, Hofstraat, KallenBerg and Kraaijenoord to start the match. They extended the lead by the interval (45-23). Then they went on to control the rest of the match to win by a comfortable margin with five players in double digits.The second game for the Netherlands was against the Slovak Republic. In a very physical encounter, the Dutch side lost Eline Kraaijenoord during the first half of the match. The Slovak Republic edged the first period (15-11) and went into the locker room, after a buzzer-beater with a 9-point lead (30-21). The Netherlands chased the game all through the second half with Butter having a solid game with 20 points. Yet the Slovak Republic extended their advantage at one stage to 19 points (51-32). Although the Dutch girls reduced their deficit to 5 points (54-59), they ran out of energy and time leaving the victory for the Slovak Republic (61-54). In their last group game The Netherlands, without Kraaijenoord, went to work quickly against Estonia. They took control of the game after putting together a run of 13-0 to lead (21-10). During the second period it was the turn of Estonia to dominate and tie the game (30-30) on the back of some clutch three-point shooting. However the Dutch side went into the interval in front (37-33). Estonia's physical style was to put key players in foul problems. Essenstam and Hofstraat scored key points for The Netherlands as they went into the final quarter leading (60-42). The final period was an anti-climax with Estonia only managing a single point, which allowed The Netherlands to win (72-42) with three players in double digits. In Group A Greece scrambled a victory against England by 2 points on the opening day. Despite losing to Israel on day two Greece won the group with Denmark coming second. Israel lost to England in the last three seconds of their group game. This defeat condemned Israel - who finished fourth last year - to a play-off spot against Luxembourg for 17th place.
The Dutch had a field day from the land of many as Vermeulen, Hofstraat and Butter fired in a few shots. Once again a balanced attack had three players in double digits. The Netherlands needed to beat Romania to qualify for the semi-final. However it was Romania that got off to a better start to lead (11-4) by the end of the first period. Romania did not have it easy offensively and led (26-19) at the break. The Dutch team changed defensive systems during the third period. Hence they reduced the deficit to 3 points (33-36) going into the last quarter. Romania have some quick players in Cursaru and Ionescu, who took advantage of poor passes by their opponents to see Romania through (52-41).
Greece beat Romania (60-57) in a match that went to overtime to qualify for the final. Romania missed out like they did in 2006 on the chance for playing in Division A.Slovenia were also stopped in their tracks by Finland (44-58). For Finland this is the first time to qualify for playing in Division A at youth level. Greece went on to win the final (56-47) and Romania took bronze after beating Slovenia (70-56). Termosteps U16 European Championship Division A women Qualifying round preview for France Termosteps U16 European Championship Division A women Day one news Return from Termosteps Youth International Basketball U16 France Final day to "What's New" page Return to youth international basketball index Termosteps U16 DiV Bpictures Supplied:
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They finished second in Group C and started the tournament with an emphatic victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina (80-46). 
The Netherlands went on to finish 6th after beating Denmark (72-55) before losing for the second time to the Slovak Republic (57-48) in the match for fifth place.
