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2012 FIBA Europe U16 Championship
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France have booked their ticket into the qualifying round of FIBA Europe U16 European Championship Women Division A after beating Croatia in a game that went to the wire (64-62).
Belgium and Italy have also booked their places in the next round with comfortable victories against Sweden ad Germany respectively.
Russia and Hungary remain also unbeaten after two days of competition while England became the first team to be eliminated from the 2012 FIBA Europe U16 European Championship for Women.
With England out, Croatia and the Czech Republic will join France in the second phase starting on Monday, 15 July 2012.
The Slovak Republic stunned Greece in a low scoring game (44-35) for their first victory in this competition.
France edged out Croatia
France were quickly into their stride with the first 5 points by Louise Dambach.
Ivana Dojkic broke the Frech run with a split pair quickly followed by 2 more points.
However the next four minutes belonged to France after a trey from the top of the arc by Alix Duchety.
France won the rebounds and scored steadily to lead (16-6) with seven minutes played.
The Croatian coach called for a time-out and shouted his instructions for the whole arena to hear.
The tactic worked and Croatia outscored France 10-4 to end the first quarter with a 4-point deficit (16-20).
The flood gates opened at the start of the second quarter as both teams went on the attack. However both coaches were jumping up and down on the side lines barking instructions.
France were troubled with fouls but still held onto the advantage (31-25) with 17 minutes played.
Then France started to play criss cross with some success as they stretched their opponents'defence to open a 10-point lead going into the break (41-31).
Croatia went to a 2-3 zone at the start of the third quarter and France struggled. Croatia also found their scoring touch and drew level (43-43) with 28 minutes played with a pair of free throws by Dojkic.
Dojkic continued her one-lady demolition of France with the last 5 points of the quarter for Croatia to lead (48-43).
Croatia continued to apply the zone but France found a solution with outside shooting and tied the game with a trey by Duchet (52-52) with just over five minutes left to play.
The last five minutes were end to end basketball with all systems thrown in the dust as individual players took up the challenge.
The two teams were still locked together (62-62) with 40 seconds to play. It was not until Carla Blatrie (in picture) concluded a French fast break for the victory (64-62).
Croatia: Dora Jordanic 2, Antonija Bozic DNP, Iva Slonjsak 12, Anja Kukolja 0, Ivana Dojkic 25, Tihana Stojsavljevic 0, Klaudia Perisa 2, Daria Mijatovic 3, Lucija Milosevic DNP, Anita Kelava 15, Maja Marosevicn DNP, Patricia Bura 2
France: Alix Duchet 10, Marylie Limousin 3, Lisa Berkani 14, Marie Milapie 6, Katia Clanet 11, Louise Dambach 8, Carla Blatrie 4, Maimouna Ba 0, Carla Blatrie 4, Ornella Bankole 2, Mathilde Combes 2, Camille Cirgue 3, Angélina Turmel DNP
What is happening at the FIBA Europe U16 in Miskolc?
While France were having a tough match with Croatia Belgium cruised past Sweden (82-48) to claim their place in the qualification round.
After a slow start in the first quarter Italy (13-6) then stepped on the turbo to beat Germany (73-38).
The match between the Slovak Republic and Greece came to live in the final five minutes with bodies flying all over the floor.
Veronika Remenarova had a strong first half for the Slovak Republic. But it was the hustle play of Kristina Matuskova in crunch time that saw them through to win the game (44-35). Matuskova was in tears after the game because this victory may have saved them from the relegation round.
Russia were made to sweat before they disposed of Serbia(73-60). Russia are the only unbeaten team from Group B.
Spain are not firing on all cylinders at the moment and had to dig deep to see off the Netherlands (53-45) to record their first victory in this edition of the FIBA Europe U16 European Championship.
The Czech Republic beat England (65-48) in one of the hardest games of the day. During the first 30 minutes the lead changed hands 11 times while the game was tied on 8 occasions.
Gabriela Andelová (in picture) took the matters in her own hands from the start of the final quarter with her team leading by just 4 points (44-40).
She went 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and scored 13 of her team's final 21 points to secure victory and assure a FIBA Europe Division A status for next year.
The hosts Hungary ended the day's competition by beating Turkey (87-68).
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Basketball picture credits:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
Picture Gallery: First three days
U16 Division A
22 July 2012 Spain defends U16 crown
21 July 2012 Spain and Italy in final while France qualify for 5th place match
20 July 2012 Belgium, Italy Russia and Spain in semi-final while England relegated
18 July 2012 Russia are the only unbeaten team going into Final Round
17 July 2012 Eight teams already qualified for the quarter-finals
16 July 2012 Spain defeat France while Belgium and Russia remain unbeaten
16 July 2012 Title aspiration or Division A survival
14 July 2012 First phase ends with tears for Serbia
13 July 2012 7 teams already in Qualifying Round - England out
12 July 2012 Group D: Netherland's power, Italy's delight
12 July 2012 Great starts in Group C for France and Croatia
12 July 2012 Olympic dreams started with U16 international basketball in 2004
U16 Division B