2012 FIBA Europe
U18 European Championship
Division B - Day 4

Denmark qualified for the FIBA Europe U18 European Championship for Women Division B quarter-final round by defeating Nordic challengers Norway (57-48) in the most curious game of the day.

Elsewhere Germany and Bulgaria completed their marathon sequence of 4 games in four days with victories to maintain their unbeaten record.

In Group D, Germany and Lithuania had already qualified for the second round so all that was at stake in this match was which team would take the win into the qualifying round.

The Germans have been impressive in this tournament and also here stepped on the accelerator during the second quarter to take a half-time lead (41-34).

They built on their advantage during the third quarter with good defending (56-41) and in the final quarter paced themselves to a comfortable victory (70-55).

Elisabeth Dzirma led the German attack by scoring 21 points in 23 minutes on the court. Justina Kraujunaite was the top scorer for Lithuania with 14 points.

In the other group game Ukraine beat Scotland (55-46) with Funmilayo Omoboogunje leading the way with 12 points and an impressive 15 rebounds from Oksana Batrakova.

In Group B, Denmark raced off to a (22-1) first-quarter lead in the Nordic derby against Norway. The Norwegians went 0-for-11 from the field during the first ten minutes.

Ranniveig Gjesdal scored Norway's first points from open play in the 11th minute of the game (3-23).

Despite the big lead Denmark struggled for the remaining 28 minutes to control the game while the spectators were treated to a typical Nordic youth basketball ding-dong affair.

With Finland losing to Bulgaria earlier in the day, Norway needed to beat Denmark for a chance of qualifying for the second round. This was the main reason for the hectic pace.

Luckily for Denmark Maria Jespersen was on form at both ends of the court and found her scoring touch during the final quarter to keep Norway out. She finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.

In the earlier game Bulgaria needed a 29-15 final-quarter blitz to see off Finland (67-60).

With six teams qualified for the second round the only matches of interest for the final day of the preliminary round are: England vs. Latvia and Hungary vs. Austria.