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Youth international basketball at its best when the pressure is onThe introduction into youth international basketball of the qualifying round system last season has made the competition more exciting as the results from the first round are carried forward into the qualifying round. The four teams that finish at the bottom of their group will play in a relegation group. After the first two rounds only six teams had secured a berth in the qualifying round. There was still a lot to play for on day 3 of the FIBA Europe U20 Women Division A.
Group A: France's comeback from 24 points to beat Serbia while Italy held off GermanyFrance required a victory in their final match against Serbia to guarantee their qualification and not have to rely on Italy beating Germany. Yet Serbia required a victory to take maximum points into the qualification round. There was little time for pleasantries as both sides attempted to take control from the tip-off. Both sides neutralised each other during the opening spell (6-6). Serbia were quicker to get their system in place and hit France 12-0 to take control of the game and led (29-13) by the end of the first period. Serbia put another 12-0 run together in the second period and went into the locker room with a comfortable lead (45-23). Jelena Cerina increased the Serbian advantage at the beginning of third period to 24 points (47-23). Sarah Michel was the catalyst France needed as she scored 11 of 19 points as France went on a 19-2 run to close the gap (42-49). However Serbia went into the final quarter leading (51-42). With seven minutes remaining Serbia appeared to have weathered the storm as they maintained their advantage (57-46). France then switched tactics and decided to go for three-point shooting. Michel started the display as she hit the first shot from the land of many for France. Ingrid Tanqueray added a second three-pointer moments later. By the time Carine Paul hit the third French three-pointer the game was level (59-59) .
Serbia still had time to rescue the game. But once Maja Miljkovic's lay-up did not go in, Serbia abdicated. Then they refused to foul French players to stop the game clock. France completed a 20-2 run to win the game (66-57). Sonja Petrovic led the Serbian scoring with 17 points. Dragana Gobeljic had 14 points and Jelena Milovanovic (above No:9) finished with a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. For France Michel finished with 19 points. Ana Cata-Chitiga had 14 and Lorraine Lokoka finished with 10 points. In the final match in group A Italy booked their spot in the next round after holding off Germany (67-55). Germany, trailing by (39-52) at the beginning of the final period came to within 4 points (52-56) with just under three minutes to play. Chiara Consolini from Italy hit a three-pointer just as the 24-second buzzer went off that finally broke Germany. The Italian side controlled the remaining 1:44 (61-52). They finished with identical records like Serbia and France but finished third in their group. Snezana Aleksic hit 37 points as Montenegro took down BelgiumMontenegro and Belgium produced a classical match with both sides having their moments. Montenegro got out of the starting blocks quickly and raced to an early lead (10-2) which they increased to (19-8). But Belgium fought back and levelled the game (22-22) by the end of the first period. Belgium continued to press in the second period and completed a 12-0 run over two periods to lead (27-22). They stayed in front going into the locker room with a 7-point advantage (43-36). The Belgium side continued to dominate. With COB Calais bound Sara Leemans (20 points) scoring the advantage increased to 11 points (47-36).
The yo-yo battle continued in the final quarter. With three minutes left to play Belgium were in front (81-79). Afterwards nothing went well for Belgium as they continued to turn the ball over allowing Montenegro to regain the lead and win the match (92-83). Snezana Aleksic (above) scored 37 points, took 4 rebounds, dished out 7 assists and made 6 steals. Milica Jovanovic scored 27 points and Marija Vujadinovic contributed 14 as Montenegro avoided the relegation round. Youth international basketball news from the other matches
Olga Petrova kept her calm at the free-throw line with 11 seconds remaining to give Russia the victory against Ukraine (60-58). With this victory Russia finished first in group C with maximum points. Lithuania held off Bulgaria to win (65-60) and got the last ticket in group C. Gintare Petronyte (left) was the match winner with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Spain maintained their record in beating Belarus (70-58) to claim top spot in group D.
Youth international basketball news from the European Championship Women U20 Basketball Day 1 Youth international basketball news from the U20 European Championship Women Division A - Day 2 Return from Youth International Basketball U20 Day 2 to "What's New" page Return from European Championship Women U20 Basketball to youth international basketball index Youth International Basketball U20 Day 3 picture credit:
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The last 1:50 belonged to France as Serbia started to rock. Marielle Amant put France in front as she put back an offensive rebound. With 42 seconds remaining Michel (left No:5) used her pace to drive to the basket and finish with a lay-up (63-59) to put France in the driving seat.
However Montenegro had not given up and the two sides were soon level (57-57) as Snezana Aleksic and Milica Jovanovic started to find their scoring touch for Montenegro. The sides continued to trade basket for basket. By the end of the third period the two teams were still level (67-67).
Turkey took the honours in group B by beating the Czech Republic (78-56) with Yasemin Dalgalar scoring 22 points and taking 11 rebounds. Latvia did enough to keep Greece at bay and won (57-50) to take the last spot in the group.
