Greece taking advantage against Germany for qualifying round

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Austria knocking Switzerland in the competition for 17th place

Switzerland took advantage of the passive start from Austria to take an early lead (6-2). Austria then picked up and went in front briefly as Lisa Richard hit one from beyond the arc.Both teams were back on level term (9-9) halfway through the first period.

For the rest of the period Switzerland continued to be aggressive and traded basket for basket to finish on level terms going into the second quarter (13-13).

Austria were finding it difficult to impose their style but managed to edge in front midway through the second period (19-18).

Austria's head coach, Hajnail Szilagyi, finally got her side to use a full court press effectively. Unfortunately for Switzerland the flood gates opened as they were hit 21-6 for the rest of the quarter and went into the locker room trailing (24-40).

After the interval Switzerland switched back to their simple but effective transition to trouble Austria as they quickly reduced their deficit (33-44).

Austria bounced back with Richard (right) leading the way to regain part of their initial lead (52-35).

Then the pace slowed down and Austria took full control of the game going into the final period with a comfortable advantage (57-37).

The final period was just a formality for Austria. Both coaches made lots of changes while keeping the match competitive.

Austria went on to win (67-48) and as a result Switzerland will play for 17th place.

Richard led the scoring with 21 points for Austria. Sara Sicher was the only other player in double digits with 10 points.

For Switzerland Lisa Mazzocchi scored 16 points.

Slovenia won Group B thriller against Estonia

Both teams were playing quickly as they attempted to impose their own rhythm. Slovenia had the early advantage (10-4).

The rest of the first period was rather technical with plenty of pushing and shoving as both sides shared the scoring. Slovenia went into the second period leading (16-10).

The technical battle continued during the second quarter.

Slovenia were not getting their way with the officials as they had to play without Teja Oblak who picked up her fourth personal foul, a technical one, with less than fifteen minutes played.

Ines Kerin was also on three fouls and had to return to the bench. Estonia used this to their advantage as they put together a 12-0 run to take the lead with Anastassia Ptitsona hitting two three-point shots (28-22).

Nika Baric ended the run as she managed to draw a foul on Trinn Mitt and hit a pair of free-throws. Triin Teppo profited from a mix-up in the Slovenian defence to score the last points of the first half and stretch their lead to 7 points at the interval (30-23).

Slovenia came storming back at the start of the third quarter with Kerin and Oblak back on the court hitting big shots (30-34).

The pace picked up and the game became more physical. Estonia switched to zone but that did not stop Kerin from hitting beyond the arc.

Estonia started to run the ball more and Mitt found her way to the basket to score. Kerli Hass then buried a baseline trey for Estonia (41-35). The baskets were now coming in quickly as Slovenia regained the lead as first Baric, then Kerin with a trey and Tjasa Gortnar all scored (42-41).

Linda Veltmann got herself to the foul-line and hit her free-throws for the lead to change hands again. The battle continued right to the end of the quarter with Baric scoring the last basket for Slovenia to regain the lead (46-45).

The exchange of baskets continued as both sides gave ot all. Slovenia still had the advantage (55-47) with six minutes to play.

Oblak fouled out with 5:06 to play after picking up her 5th personal foul.

The game was end to end basketball. When the game entered money-time Baric made space for herself on the wing to hit a three-pointer (61-52).

There was to be no more scoring and Slovenia won the group and will play Germany next.

Kerin led the scoring with 17 points, Baric 16 and Oblak 12 points (from right to left in picture).

For Estonia Hass scored 14, followed by Teppo and Jalli with 10 points apiece.

Ireland made it look easy to win against England

In a disappointing game that lacked the normal intensity of an England-Ireland match, Diggans, the Irish head coach, and his staff were rewarded for the homework done before the match.

His first act was to start with Hannah Thornton who - on her very first play - drove to the basket and scored. Within the next 60 seconds Ireland were leading (6-0) with Thornton already on 4 points.

Mary Durojaye eventually opened England’s account with her trademark triple jump to lay up. However Thornton continued to cause England problems as Ireland stretched their lead to (12-2) within five minutes.

England recovered a little bit with Tamzin Barroilhet hitting a mid-distance jumper. Charlotte Stoddart chipped in two baskets for her side to reduce the deficit. But Claire Rockall and Sinead O’Reilly made sure that Ireland led after the first period (16-11).

The game became very stale in the second period. With Thornton stretching Ireland’s advantage to (20-12) England came on a quick rally as Julia Colley hit a jump shot from just within the arc and Katrin Chiemeka followed up with a baseline trey (17-20). Yet this was as close as England was to get to Ireland for the rest of the game.

Afterwards Ireland went on a 12-4 run as Orla O’Reilly and Eimear Martin started hitting one and two three-pointers respectively. By the interval they led (32-20).

At the start of the third quarter England attempted to rally back after a Barroilhet’s trey. The game was becoming more physical with claiming a victim in Rhiannon Mc Nulty as she came off worse in a challenge against Hannah Shaw. Hence Ireland stepped up with the Irish O‘Reilly twins to trouble England as their side moved further ahead by the end of this period (48-34).

In the last quarter Ireland was able to play their bench as nothing went right for England to win (65-48).

For Ireland Orla O’Reilly and Rockall were with 14 and 13 points in double figures while Shaw and Barroilhet had 13 and 11 points apiece for England.

Portugal saved the best for last

Israel started quickly by scoring the first 11 points. Then Portugal fought back with a 7-0 run for the game to be tied (13-13) at the end of the first period.

The teams continued to play at a high tempo and traded basket for basket with Israel leading (22-18) off a basket by Coral Dolev. Afterwards the Portuguese head coach, Maryana Kostourkova, decided to have some words with her players. As a result her team put in a 9-0 run to take the lead for good (31-22).

But Israel’s Idit Oryon put in a buzzer-beater jump shot for her side to go into the interval with a 6-point deficit (25-31).

Portugal did not drop intensity moving the ball around and mixing three-point plays with inside moves. They stretched their lead to (43-28). Shafir who had a quiet first half started to make inroads into the Portuguese defence by scoring 9 of her team’s 14 points. Yet Portugal stayed in front by the end of the third period (55-39).

Despite loosing Shira Ben Barak with her 5th foul Israel came storming back to (51-57) within the first 41/2 minutes.

However Maria Correia stepped up as she attempted to go coast to coast but missed. Afterwards she was again in the mist of action and hit a three-pointer rejuvenating Portugal. This moment was the turning point of the match.

Portugal double-teamed Shafir for the rest of the game. However the Israeli player came up with the move of the match as she penetrated into the box, fed the ball behind her back out to the wing for Shira Schecht to hit a three-pointer.

Portugal won (75-59).

For Portugal Joana Bernardeco top scored with 18 points, followed by Luiana Livulo with 16 and Correia with 13 points.

Shafir had a team high of 21 points. Schecht had 11 points.

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