Greece in qualification round

After almost 90 seconds of observation Switerland opened the scoring with Marjana Milenkovic scoring from the free-throw line.

This was the wake-up call that Greece required as they hit 7 quick points to take charge of the game with Antigoni Chairistanidou and Charikleia Chatziefstathiou doing all the scoring. By the time the Swiss bench called for a time-out Greece were leading (12-7).

The Swiss team changed their approach after the time-out by using long passes to make their opponents run more. This halted the Greek's advance. Switzerland's patience appeared to have paid off as Emilie Raboud hit a shot from the land of many to reduce their deficit (12-15).

Greece then upped the tempo and scored 3 quick points to stay in front (18-12) at the end of the first period.

Switzerland's patience in the second period almost paid off as they reduced their deficit to a single point (18-19). They penetrated into the paint and were solid in their free-throw shooting.

Greece were forced into playing a full court press and quickly restored their advantage with a 11-2) run (30-21). However Switzerland were not intimidated by their opponents and went on to trade basket for basket with them for the rest of the quarter.

loanna Deila (right) from Greece was the main offensive threat with 10 points as her side went into the locker with room with an 11-point lead (34-23).

All through the third period Greece dictated the pace of the game with Switzerland having difficulty in breaking through the Greece wall. Greece pushed the 20-point barrier (50-30) and further stretched the advantage by the end of the quarter to (57-32).

Both teams played out the match in good spirit with Greece winning (70-45). This victory means Greece's ticket for the qualification round.

For Greece Christina Tsoukala led the scoring with 14 points. She was joined in double digits by Chatziefstathiou and Diela with 10 points apiece.

For Switzerland Coralie Perrenoud and Giulia Pedrazzini had 7 points each.

Luxembourg missed out on qualification round

The two teams attacked each other straight from the tip-off and were playing at high speed. Yet they have contrasting styles: Luxembourg like to shoot from distance while Austria tend to penetrate into the box before shooting.

Sara Sicher (left No. 5) and Julia Köppl (left No. 14) were doing the majority of the scoring for Austria as their team led early (14-11) while Lynn Schreiner was the main threat for Luxembourg.

Luxembourg switched to their trademark full court press which resulted in Austrian turnovers. Then Luxembourg were level as Léonie De Jonge hit a trey from top of the key (14-14).

It was the turn of the Austrian side to change their system. They were shooting from beyond the arc. Köppl hit her 10th point of the game from land of many while Lisa Richard showed her skills in three-point shooting.

Austria stretched their advantage to finish the first period (23-19).

The cat and mouse game continued between the two teams in the second period with Luxembourg duo Jil Haentges and L. Schreiner doing all the scoring as they drew level (26-26).

L. Schreiner completed the Luxembourg recovery as she hit her second trey of the match to give Luxembourg the lead.

The Austrian bench called for a time-out and changed defensive and offensive options. The result was that the players ran less with the ball while they were creating more opportunities to score with fast breaks.

Kata Takacs was at the end of one such play to give Austria back the lead with less than two seconds left to play in the first half (35-33).

The quality of basketball dropped in the second half as the heat began to take its toll on the players. However Austria held the advantage which resulted in the Luxembourg head coach, Hermann Paar, calling for a time-out (44-41).

Takacs started to throw her weight about. Hence Austria went on to open the first significant lead of the game by the end of the third period (55-44).

Austria scored the first 4 points of the final quarter and took control of the game. They maintained the hold (63-50) of the game until the 36th minute.

Luxembourg then went on the attack and scored 5 quick points. Then Sicher was fouled in the paint and won two free-throws which she coolly converted.

Sicher's next action was to block Haentges and with that action Luxembourg's slim chance of taking the game had disappeared.

Austria went on to win (69-58) and as a result Luxembourg are out of the qualification round.

Sicher led the scoring with 19 points and was joined in double digits by Milena Lazarevic and Köppl with 13 and 10 respectively.

For Luxembourg Haentges and L. Schreiner scored 23 and 16 points apiece.

Slovenia cruised past Portugal

This match had a rather technical opening by both sides with Portugal doing better offensively in the first few minutes and scored the first 6 points.

Slovenia’s first score came after three minutes. Ines Kerin then sparked a Slovenian 10-0 run with a shot from down-town (12-8).

Sofia Da Silva ended the Portuguese drought with a figure-roll lay-up. Slovenia continued to dominate the game but left Da Silva free as the period came to an end.

So she profited to hit a mid-distance jumper for her 8th point of the game.

Slovenia started the second period leading (18-12) and had to wait for almost 2 1/2 minutes for Lea Jagodic to add to the score.

Slovenia changed defensive systems in the second quarter which kept Portugal out of the paint. Furthermore they extended their lead with a combination of fast breaks and clutch-field shooting (30-18).

Slovenia struggled as the quarter was winding down and allowed Portugal to reduce their deficit by the interval (22-33).

Neither side was able to get into any rhythm. Opportunities arose but the ball refused to drop. All the same Slovenia maintained their advantage (43-28).

Nika Baric (left) with just two actions changed the whole game as she scored the last 5 points of the third period to give Slovenia a comfortable lead (52-30).

The final quarter played itself out with the highlight being the mid-court game-ending buzzer shot by Teja Oblak as Slovenia won (64-42).

Tjasa Gortnar led a Slovenian balanced attack with 15 points. Baric had 14, Kerin 13 and Oblak 11 points.

Portugal had two players in double digits Da Silva with 13 and Luiana Livulo with 10 points.

Estonia saw off Macedonia after power interruption

Ana Tanturovska opened the scoring after 50 seconds with a jump shot from the top of the key that got the crowd on their feet.

Estonia did not seemed to be bothered by the atmosphere and traded baskets with the hosts (6-6). Treys by Jelena Antik and Tanturovska gave the homeside the edge midway through the first half (12-6).

Latvia's disciplined zone defence kept Macedonia scoreless for over four minutes while their side reduced the deficit. Arenela Hodja finally ended the barren spell for Macedonia to go into the second quarter with a 4-point advantage (14-10).

The pace did not pick up in the second quarter as defence was the order of the day. Kerttu Jallai from Estonia finally found a way of penetrating the Macedonian wall before she gave a behind-the-back blind side pass to Linda Veltmann who then had the easy task of scoring (13-16).

Antik and Tanurovska continued to trouble Estonia as they continued to fire shots from down-town to stretch their advantage (30-20).

Estonia fought back with 5 quick points. But their efforts were not rewarded as Triin Mitt and Jalli both attempted to block Antik who fired off a three-pointer going in on the buzzer (33-25).

When the play resumed Macedonia's lead (35-30 ) evaporated as the two teams were soon level (37-37). Ema Reskoska came of the bench and put Macedonia in front with a hook shot (39-37).

Antik turned passer to feed Bisera Rajcinoska to score the last points of the third quarter for the hosts (42-37).

The final period was end to end basketball with only Estonia doing most of the scoring. Jallai and Hass combined for 15-of-20 last-quarter points as Estonia edged out the hosts.

Estonia held their nerve to hit 7-of-8 from the free-throw line at the end to win (57-50) and also to book their ticket in the qualifying round. At the same time Estonia eliminated the hosts.

Jallai led the scoring with 21 points, Teppo and Hass also finished in double-digits with 15 and 10 points respectively.

Antika and Tanturovska scored 17 and 14 points for Macedonia.