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FIBA World Championship:
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Hana Horáková (left) took a season off from the national team at EuroBasket Women 2009. But this year she came up with a magical performance for the hosts with 14 points, 5 steals, 1 block and 8 drawn fouls.Czech Republic come out on top in overtime in the FIBA World Championship semi-final against Belarus
After just 21 seconds Yuliya Dureika (left) fired in a three-pointer to get Belarus going. She also scored the second basket of the game (5-0) to give her team the perfect start.
Finally Hana Horáková got the hosts into the game with a lay-up. But the home supporters were quickly silenced with back to back scores from Anastasiya Verameyenka and Yelena Leuchanka.
With just three minutes played, Luboš Blažek, the Czech Republic coach, called a time-out (2-9).
Afterwards the hosts started to defend harder. With Horáková, Katerina Elhotova and Ivana Vecerová scoring quickly, they came back into the game.
The pendulum swung in favour of the Czech Republic. They went in front for the first time with a quarter-ending-buzzer shot from Petra Kulichová (16-15).
The second quarter was fast and furious with both teams having their moments.
With six minutes to play in the quarter Martina Kress put Belarus back in front briefly with a trey from the top of the arc (23-22).
Bourges Basket player Ilona Burgrová (right) restored the lead for the hosts which was quickly followed by a score from Horáková that had the crowd on their feet.
Horáková had hustled the ball off Natallia Marchanka at mid court and then went all the way to the basket to score (26-25).
The flood gates opened and points started to come from all over the court as both sides fought tooth and nail for everything.
Belarus did not panic or let the home fans get to them. With 44 seconds left to play they regained the advantage through Nataliya Trafimava (34-32) for the last score of the first half.
After the break both teams went after each other like cat and dog with nobody gaining a centimetre.
The hosts started to dominate the battle for the offensive boards and with 26 minutes played they led (48-43).
The game became more intense with the Czech Republic holding on to their advantage going into the fourth quarter (54-49).
The last quarter was excitement all the way: clutch shooting, missing easy shoots and plenty of contact. The arena was packed and everybody was cheering the home team.
However Verameyenka was a lady on a mission for Belarus: she was involved in everything as they made up their deficit.
With just three minutes left to play in regulation time, their captain Kress levelled the score (61-61).
With 13 seconds left to play the Czech Republic had a foot in the final of the FIBA World Championship for Women leading (68-65).
But Belarus were not to be denied and after Marchanka split a pair from the charity stripes, Trafimava then tied the game with nine seconds to play.
The hosts still had time to score but they failed in the execution and the game went to overtime.
Horáková made a half-court steel to score the first points in overtime for the hosts. Then Vitecková gave a 4-point cushion with just over a minute to play (77-73).
Belarus battled hard and pushed the hosts all the way.
Although Horáková was not having much luck from the free-throw line, she settled the game on the free-throw line.
World Championship news from day 8
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womensbasketball-in-france.comDate created: 02 October 2010
