|
Chieti, the home of Italian youth international basketballOn the fifth day of the U20 youth international basketball festival in Chieti the Italian side bounced back from their defeat the day before and beat the Czech Republic (80-69). Thereby Italy eliminated their opponents from reaching the semi-final.
In the matches on the fifth day Spain never looked back after hitting Ukraine (12-0) early in the first period. By the end of this quarter they had built a (27-9) lead. Ukraine did trouble their opponents in the beginning of the second period and reduced their deficit to 13 points. However Spain regained control and went into the interval (48-28). By the end of the third quarter they ended the match as a contest leading (71-42). The final score was (81-59) in favour of Spain who shot 10-of-23 from beyond the arc. Jael Freixanet (above) top scored for Spain with 20 points. Russia made light work of Belarus by beating them (90-50) and had the game wrapped up by half time. They dominated the boards throughout the game winning that contest (47-24). Russia had five players in double digits. In the other game in Group F Lithuania crushed Montenegro (100-48). In Group E France won their fourth consecutive game by winning against Turkey (65-57). The match winner for France was Ana Cata-Chitiga with a double-double of 22 points and 16 rebounds. Worry for France is Sarah Michel’s injury which made her only play for 12 minutes.
Serbia were taken to the wire by Latvia and were saved by Sonja Petrovic. She hit in the last 15 seconds 3-of-4 free-throws for her side to win (61-57). Meanwhile Jelena Milovanovic (last season’s MVP of the U18 championship) led the scoring with 23 points while Petrovic had a double-double 18 points and 13 rebounds. However the star of the game was the 17-year-old Latvian Sabine Niedola (left) with 20 points and 18 rebounds. End of group phase in Division B - Pozan PolandThe group games came to an end with Sweden remaining unbeaten as the only team. They outclassed Israel to win (73-42). Poland held off The Netherlands in a cliff-hanger finish to win (57-54). Hence they remain second in Group B and will meet Romania in the quarter-final. Sweden, on the other hand, will take on Ireland. In Group A The Slovak Republic crushed Great Britain (93-38) to top the group and will play next Israel. Romania ended Hungary’s unbeaten record (41-35) but still ended third in their group. Hungary will take on The Netherlands. The next games for Division B will be on Friday, 18 July. Youth international basketball news from the European Championship Women U20 Basketball Day 4 Youth international basketball news from the U20 European Championship Women Division A - Day 3 Return from Youth International Basketball U20 Day 5 to "What's New" page Return from European Championship Women U20 Basketball to youth international basketball index Youth International Basketball U20 Day 5 picture credit:
|
In Group F Spain and Russia maintained their unbeaten record and have qualified for the semi-final. The two sides will meet in the final group game to determine who tops the group.
