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FIBA Europe U20 European Championship Women Div B, day 4After a rest day the competition for the title of the Fiba Europe U20 European Championship Women Division B continues. While the Czech Republic secured first place in Group B and Great Britain finished second, the final three places will be decided on the fifth day. In Group A Austria became the first team to be eliminated whereas the fifth day already has Portugal as group winners. Positions two thru four will be decided on the final day of Fiba Europe U20 European Championship Women Division B group play.
FIBA Europe U20 European Championship Women from day three
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One highlight of the quarter came from Idit Oryon from Israel who knocked down her team's first threy of the match to bring the teams level (31-31) with the first minutes of the quarter.
The pleasantries came to an end in the final quarter with the Slovak Republic coach Zeljko Vukicevic (right) demanding a brutal acceleration of pace by his players.Decisive second half let Czech Republic take win
A cautious start from both teams resulted in neither team being able to get into a rhythm. The players had to work hard for score any points.
Both coaches made frequent changes as they adopted similar tactics in a highly entertaining first quarter with Great Britain leading (17-14).
The Czech Republic stepped up defensively not allowing Great Britain any chance to shoot from outside or get into the paint while creating offensive chances for themselves.
Katerina Bartonova (left) fired in a trey for the Czech Republic to take the lead (22-21).
Great Britain were on the back foot. Their opponents rattled in 11 unanswered points to lead (27-21) with just under two minutes to play in the half.
Somehow Great Britain ended the seven-minute barren spell from the charity stripes through Mairi Buchan.
Rebecca Allison on the next play hit a two-pointer and her side looked that they were about to come storming back.
However in the dying seconds Dana Kuslitová somehow managed to hit a trey from the top of the key while drawing Allison in fouling her.
Kuslitová hit the free-throw and the Czech Republic went into the interval leading (33-25).
After the break both coaches changed tactics and the match resembled the slogan "let's play basketball".
Great Britain were more aggressive and started to hit their shots from far as well as taking care of the offensive boards while the Czech Republic had to play the patience game to hold on to the lead (46-38) with 26 minutes played.
The game became a little scrappy and rough as the intensity went up with Great Britain forcing to chase the game.
However it was Alena Hanusová who had the last say with a three-point buzzer beater to take the Czech Republic in the final quarter leading (52-44).
The Czech Republic continued their three-point shooting festival with Hanusová and Bartonova to push their side 20 points clear (67-47) with four minutes to play.
The Czech Republic paced themselves to victory (72-58).
Kuslitová led the scoring for Czech Republic with 22 points while Buchan (Above right) had 12 points for Great Britain.
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Greece found their scoring touch during the first quarter as they found it difficult to miss, hitting 7-of-10 from the field during a first-quarter blitz that saw them score 13 unanswered points to lead (19-10) by the end of the first quarter.
Greece' shooting percentage went down during the second quarter as they dropped their intensity. However Angeliki Nikolopoulou made sure that Greece went into the interval leading (33-19) with 8 of her team's 14 second-quarter points.
Austria came out firing on all cylinders after the break with Julia Köppl (right) firing in a trey and 3 more points (2+1) as Greece went to sleep with 22 minutes played.
The game went dead for almost three minutes with nobody able to score.
Austria were putting in a lot of effort to find ways to score but Greece managed to keep them at bay with their taller players. Nevertheless it was a very dull quarter. Greece went into the final quarter leading (42-33).
Austria really stepped during the final quarter. With two minutes to play they trailed by a single point. This was the moment the player of the match, Nikolopoulou, stepped up and hit a big three for Greece which turned out to be the winning shot.
The remaining time was full of the traditional time-outs and fouls to stop the clock. Both coaches tried to take advantage of gaining possession of the ball.
In the end Austria just ran out of time and are hence eliminated from the FIBA competition with this defeat (51-55).
Nikolopoulou fired in 24 points for Greece while Köppl had 19 for Austria.
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Macedonia's loosing streak continues
It was fireworks from the tip-off with Ema Reskoska scoring the first points of the game before the fans could get seated. It became (4-0) to the hosts seconds later with Ana Tanturovska also finding the target.
Belgium remained calm and despite a trey by home favourite Jelena Antik, they trailed (5-7) thanks to Miete Celus and a trey by Kim Snauweart.
Belgium changed their tactics in order to stop Antik. This resulted in them playing small with only one tall player on the court: Jaleesa Maes. Their efforts were in vain as Antik somehow powered her way to the basket to score under the basket. Then she continued with back to back scores (16-9) with three minutes left to play in the quarter.
Macedonia were able to pick up holes in the Belgium defense and extended their advantage by the end of the quarter (23-12) with Antik already in 12 points.
Belgium turned things around during the second quarter with a player-to-player marking system and clutch shooting to draw level (25-25) off a running drive from Caroline Bourlioux with just under three minutes played.
Antik and Reskoska put Macedonia back in front with 7 quick points.
Miete Celus was everywhere for Belgium fighting for every ball while Jaleesa Maes (right) was starting to get her ball to drop.
The home fans were silenced as Nele Poffyn was allowed to run into the paint before handing the ball to Celus who in turn gave the ball to Maes to score on the buzzer for Belgium to go into the locker room leading (39-38).
Belgium played criss cross to good effect at the start of the third quarter. With Emmanuella Mayombo getting on the end of most of the balls as her side stretched their advantage (49-41).
Antik had been quiet for a while. But when she was left open for a split second at 45° to the basket, she hit the three-pointer. Her action inspired her team-mates Bisera Rajcinoska and Reskoska as they hit back to back scores.
The noise in the hall went up. The Belgium players started to feel the pressure as the hosts raced back to take the lead with 2:20 left to play in the third quarter (54-53).
It was tension all the way during the final quarter with the teams trading basket for basket for almost seven minutes with Belgium just hanging on to the lead.
Ana Tanturovska got the home fans on their feet as she reversed spun to finish a fast break (61-64). This resulted in the Belgium coach calling for a time-out with three minutes left to play.
The home fans became the sixth man on the court. So when Arin Agic scored with 94 second left to play the whole hall erupted. But the atmosphere changed in the dying seconds when Antik was called for an offensive charge on Maes.
Belgium had the chance to win the game. However the ball refused to drop. Then Macedonia had the chance to win the game on the last attempt on the game: bodies went up from both sides so it was impossible to see who took the shot, which was missed. The buzzer had gone and Belgium had their first victory (64-63).
Yet the home fans thought that they had some free-throws which was not the case.
Celus scored 24 points for Belgium while Mayombo added 13.
Antik finished the game with 26 points and 18 rebounds while Tanturovska and Reskoska scored 19 and 12 points each.
Neither nation is eliminated from the FIBA tournament.
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womensbasketball-in-france.comDate created: 20 July 2010
