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FIBA Europe U16 European Championship Women Division A, day 3
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France have a good record at FIBA Europe U16 competitions. They won the title in 2007 and were on the podium in the last two competitions with bronze medals.France go into the qualification round with a perfect record after picking up their third victory against Serbia in Group B while Italy finished bottom with no wins.
Russia have topped Group A also with a perfect record and will meet France on day 6 of the championship. Lithuania, one of the power houses of youth basketball in Europe, must play in the relegation round.
In Group C, the Netherlands lit up this championship on the first day by beating Spain (71-67) in overtime. They have secured a place in the qualification round of beating Poland (67-63).
The qualifiers from Group D was decided on the second day with Belarus losing to Greece and Belgium beating the Czech Republic. Belarus are eliminated from the race and will play in the relegation group.
You can read our FIBA Europe basketball news on France and from the groups by clicking on the links below or by scrolling down the page:
Olivia Epoupa keeping France on target
Group A: from Russia with love
Group B: Croatia, the second team behind France
Group C: Oranje Fever comes to Greece
Group D: Belgium remain cool
France won but like suspense
Like the France U18 team that won bronze in the recently concluded U18 European championship, this age group waits until the closing minutes to seek victory.
In game one against Croatia, France went in front for good with just under three minutes to play.
Olivia Epoupa secured the victory for France with solid free-throwing as she scored 7 of the last 9 points (79-74) in her 24-point haul.
In their second game France went into the final quarter leading (44-40) against Italy.
Italy rallied back to bring the team level (46-46) with eight minutes remaining.
France, spurred on by Epoupa, went on an 8-0 run late and then hung on to victory (57-50).
Valériane Ayayi (right) led the attack for France with 18 points while Epoupa finished with her second double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. She also picked up 3 assists and 2 steals.
With participation in the qualification round assured France did not start the game well against Serbia.
The teams were tied (7-7) midway through the first quarter and then France switched off. Serbia scored 12 unanswered points to lead (19-7).
Jovana Vidakovic hit a trey at the start of the second quarter to complete a 15-0 run for Serbia.
France spent the rest of the quarter trading baskets with Serbia and went into the locker room trailing (20-35).
The third quarter belonged to Epoupa from France. She scored 13 points in a row and a total of 15-of-19 points for France as her side reduced the deficit going into the final quarter (39-44).
Marième Badiane took over the scoring duties for France as France continued to chip away at the lead while keeping Serbia scoreless.
With six minutes left to play Epoupa tied the game with a free throw.
Neither team was able to score for four minutes until Axelle Koundouno broke the spell and put France in the lead for good.
The end was messy and Epoupa with her 25th point of the game secured the victory for France with a couple of free throws (50-46).
Serbia only managed 2 points during the final ten minutes.
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Russia are just warming up
Russia have cruised through the preliminary round averaging a winning margin of 40 points.
Elena Shulzhenko, the Russian coach has been able to spread minutes so that no player was on court for more than 65 minutes during the first three games.
Albina Razheva and Julia Gladkova are currently leading the scoring with 12 and 10.3 points per game. Six other players are averaging 8 points or more.
Lithuania have had a disappointing tournament so far. They lost close games to Finland and Sweden and with three defeats find themselves in the relegation group.
Sweden beat Finland in the Nordic derby (67-48) to take second spot. Both teams had already qualified for the next phase.
Sweden have been playing in Division A since 2007 and Finland are in their second season. They have both qualified for the next phase and will remain in the top flight in 2011.
Finland 63-80 Russia
Sweden 61-55 Lithuania
Lithuania 48-50 Finland
Russia 97-54 Sweden
Russia 88-39 Lithuania
Sweden 67-48 Finland
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France top Group B
France have huffed and puffed their way to victory under the propeller of Olivia Epoupa while Croatia and Serbia have booked their tickets for the next phase of the competition.
Croatia had no trouble in getting past Serbia and had to wait until the 25th minute before putting away Italy (76-51) in their final group game.
Ruzica Dzankic who is the leading scorer for Croatia fired in 17 points while Andrijana Cvitkovic compiled a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds.
For Italy that finished sixth last year and had just been missing out on a place at the U17 FIBA World Championships, their next games are in the relegation round.
Croatia 74-79 France
Italy 55-58 Serbia
Serbia 67-90 Croatia
France 57-50 Italy
France 50-46 Serbia
Italy 51-76 Croatia
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Surprising Netherlands
On day 1, the Netherlands caused the first surprise of the competition by defeating Spain in overtime (71-67). Kourtney Treffers (left) was the match winner for the Netherlands with 26 points, she also picked up 12 rebounds.
Despite a defeat against Turkey on day 2, "Oranje Fever" came to life on day 3 in a thrilling match with Poland.
The match went back and fourth for most of the final quarter with the Netherlands staying in front (62-61) with the game in money-time.
Points by Yordi Kathmann and Britt Zappeij were enough to swing the pendulum in favour of the Netherlands.
Turkey Spain had the better of the first quarter (20-16) and were leading (22-16) before Deniz Dogan from Turkey fired in back to back three-pointers. Turkey then went on the rampage and opened up a 10-point lead going into the interval. Turkey stayed in front for the rest of the game despite the efforts of Elena De Alfred from Spain. Turkey finish top of the group while Spain finish in third place. Netherlands 71-67 Spain Return to the FIBA index the top of page
Poland 69-63 Turkey
Spain 65-58 Poland
Turkey 65-52 Netherlands
Poland 63-67 Netherlands
Spain 54-57 Turkey
The Belgium Cats completed a clean sweep of Group D and go into the qualification round with an advantage of one game over all the teams from Group C as they are the only undefeated team.
Belgium's defense was the key to their victory against Greece (62-45) in game one.
In game two against the Czech Republic, Belgium had to wait until a 10-2 spurt in the final quarter to come out winners (69-60).
With Belarus already eliminated there was nothing at stake in the final group game.
Daniel Goethals, the coach from Belgium, did not play anybody longer than 20 minutes in the (65-51) victory. Antonia Delaere (right) led the scoring with 16 points.
Greece finished second in the group after surviving a final-minute flourish from the Czech Republic to win (59-57).
Greece 45-62 Belgium
Czech Republic 60-50 Belarus
Belarus 56-59 Greece
Belgium 69-60 Czech Republic
Czech Republic 57-59 Greece
Belgium 65-51 Belarus
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FIBA Europe U16 European Championship Women picture credits:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
FIBA Europe
Olivier Sarre@basquetebol.org
iBasketball.nl
Nathalie Gallois
Date created: 14 August 2010
