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FIBA Europe U18 European Championship Women Division A, day 3
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Grégory Halin has been involved in many FIBA Europe youth competitions. But this is the first time the he has come away from a preliminary round with three wins achieved by buzzer beaters.France, having played in Group D, take maximum points going into the qualification round while the Czech Republic play in the relegation group.
Belgium, Latvia and Hungary also play in the relegation round after finishing last in their groups.
Alina Iagupova added another 40 points to her tally and is leading the competition with 115 points in three games.
Group D: France make Halin sweat again
Group A: Spain cruise while Hungary falter
Group B: Belgium loose out
Group C: Italy having fun
Look back on the news from Day two
France taken to the wire again
The Czech Republic went into the final quarter leading against France (58-47) and appeared to have the game under control.
France went on a three-point shooting festival during the last five minutes of the game with Héléna Akmouche and Eléonore Grossemy connecting on several occasions.
France were still chasing the game with 10 seconds to play when Akmouche made an interception and went storming up the court. She delivered the perfect pass to Mélanie Devaux.
Devaux fired in a trey that turned out to be the game winning shot (74-73) with just under five seconds to play.
The Czech Republic coach called a time-out. Despite Beáta Adamcová drawing a foul in the last second and getting to the charity stripes, she missed both free-throws.
Akmouche had one of her best games for France with a game high 23 points.
Sabrine Bouzenna was the only other player in double digits for France with 16 points.
In the other game in Group D, Alina Iagupova continued her one-lady show with 40 points for the Ukraine in the victory against Turkey (84-74).
France 74-73 Czech Republic
Ukraine 84-74 Turkey
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Spain woken up in the second half
Miguel Martinez Mendez, the head coach from Spain, saw his players start the match well leading (8-1) with just over three minutes played.
However Serbia picked themselves up quickly. With Jovana Karakasevic finding the target on several occasions her side led briefly (13-10) after six minutes.
The remaining four minutes of the quarter became a technical match-up between the two coaches as their players struggled to get the ball in to drop.
Spain regained the lead and edged the first quarter (19-15).
Once Yurena Diaz started to make her mark on the game. Spain went into overdrive and went 16 points clear (37-21) with two minutes left to play in the half.
Spain went scoreless for the rest of the quarter while Serbia managed to reduce the deficit slightly with a trey by Jelena Stankovic and 2 points on the buzzer by Zorana Nikolic (26-37).
Spain were a different team after the break. They allowed just 2 baskets from open play as they dominated the quarter (15-9) to end the game as a contest (52-35) by the end of the third quarter.
Spain stretched their advantage during a final-quarter blitz to win (73-47).
Diaz finished the game with 15 points while Marina Delgado (right), Elisabet Vivas and Laura Gil all scored 11 points each.
Serbia were led by Karakasevi and Dijana Stancic also with 11 points each.
In the other game in Group A, the Slovak Republic came out on top against Hungary (58-51) despite starting the game slowly.
The Slovak Republic appeared to have left all their energy in the locker room at the start of the game as they struggled offensively.
Hungary, looking for their first win, took full advantage to lead (15-11) at the end of the first quarter and stayed in front at the interval (28-23).
Everything changed after the break with Hungary going scoreless for almost 10 minutes while conceding 18 points (30-41).
The final quarter was a scrappy affair with Lilla Adamecz causing mayhem for the hosts as their advantage dropped to a single point (48-47) with the game going into money-time.
The game was played out on the free-throw line with the Slovak Republic holding on for their second victory of the Fiba Europe competition (58-51).
Denisa Domiterová (right) and Marta Páleníková scored 12 points apiece for the hosts while Adamecz had 11 points for Hungary
Spain 73-47 Serbia
Slovak Republic 58-51 Hungary
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Belgium have not had any luck
Emmanuella Mayombo and Hanne Mestdagh scored 16 points each for Belgium but ended up on the losing team for the third time in these championships.
Slovenia ran out winners (81-76) in a tough match with Nika Baric and Tjasa Gortna contributing 46 points.
Belgium were physical from the start and controlled the rebounds better as they edged the first quarter (17-16).
Gortna swung the pendulum in favour of Slovenia by scoring 14 points during an 18-9 run that put Slovenia into the lead (33-26).
A three-pointer by Alja Samec gave Slovenia a 12-point advantage. But Belgium scored the last 4 points of the half to trail (32-40).
Slovenia went on a three-point shooting contest and hit the target five times to extend their lead (56-40) with 26 minutes played.
Eva Rupnik traded three-pointers with Mayombo as Slovenia's advantage reached 20 points.
However Lien Delmulle from Belgium brought the scoring to an end with the 7th trey of the quarter (50-67).
Belgium struck first with a trey to open the scoring in the final quarter. However Baric's skill in drawing fouls enabled her to get to the charity stripe often.
Slovenia appeared to have the game won with just over four minutes left to play with an 18-point advantage (75-57).
Tjasa Unverdorben from Slovenia was called for an intentional foul and the pendulum changed directions once again.
Mayombo was everywhere and with Mestdagh (right) also scoring Belgium came storming back. Yet they ran out of time and the game was gone (76-81).
Russia bounced back from their defeat against Slovenia on day 2 to beat Sweden (72-47).
Russia trailed (12-17) at the end of the first quarter. However they took advantage of the foul problems to Amanda Zahu to regain the lead by the interval (31-27).
Three-pointers by Svetlana Efimova and Anastasia Pasynkova at the start of the second quarter put Russia in command of the match for good.
Sweden failed to score from open play during the third quarter and went into the final quarter trailing (34-54).
The last ten minutes were played out with Russia securing the win and the group title.
Yulia Poluyanova (right) scored 18 points and picked up 11 rebounds to take the player-of-the-match award.
Russia, Slovenia and Sweden go into the qualification round of the FIBA Europe U18 European Championship Women Division A with identical records.
Slovenia 81-76 Belgium
Russia 72-47 Sweden
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Italy ready for the second phase
Italy defeated Lithuania (72-54) in the group deciding match. The Italians achieved the victory by restricting Lithuanian top scorer Santa Okocykte to just 8 points.
Italy took hold of the match with an 11-0 run in the first quarter to finish in front (19-13).
Italy were to stay ahead for the rest of the match with Marta Masoni leading the scoring with 13 points.
Irene Cigliani and Francesca Dotto contributed 12 and 11 points each.
Both teams had booked their ticket for the next phase prior to playing this match.
In the other game in the group Poland edged out Latvia (59-52) and hence escaped the relegation group.
It was a scrappy game with so many twists and turns.
The teams were still level (51-51) with just under three minutes left to play in the final quarter.
Kinga Bandyk (right) then started her one-lady show to secure the victory for Poland with 6 points as well as a decisive block.
She finished the match with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.
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FIBA Europe U18 European Championship Women picture credits:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
FIBA Europe
Date created: 31 July 2010
