The weekend at Women’s EuroBasket 2019
By Kim Doss
Sunday
Group A: Great Britain 68, Ukraine 54
Temi Fagbenle once again led Great Britain to victory. The 6-foot-4 center was the top scorer with 22 points, the most she has scored in the tournament. She added 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks for a complete game. Johannah Leedham and Karlie Samuelson joined Fagbenle in double digits with 10 points apiece, however, Leedham also threw in 8 turnovers.
Alina Iagupova was one of only two Ukrainian players to score 10 or more points. She put together a line of 21 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, and two blocks, but she also had a game-high 9 turnovers. Liudmyla Naumenko added 11 points and 7 rebounds, but she was the only other player to score more than 6 points for Ukraine.
The British moved to second place in Group A with a 2-1 record after the win. They advance to face Montenegro in the quarterfinal qualifying round on July 1. The winner of that game will face Hungary, who advanced directly to the quarterfinals by winning Group C.
Ukraine was eliminated from the tournament, ending the weekend with an 0-3 record in the group phase.
Group B: Montenegro 70, Czech Republic 57
Montenegro came into the tournament ranked No. 26 in the world by FIBA. Of the teams in the tournament, only Italy (31), Ukraine (38), Sweden (41), and Hungary (50) ranked below them. To advance to the Quarterfinal Qualifying round, they needed their first victory of the tournament, and it had to come against No. 12 Czech Republic. They did it.
Glory Johnson, the American-born forward for the Dallas Wings, had a double-double with 26 points and 14 rebounds to help the team advance. She added 4 steals and a block to help seal the deal.
Romana Hejdova had another solid game to lead her team in the losing effort. Hejdova barely missed a double-double with 16 points and 9 rebounds. She also blocked a shot.
Both teams ended the group phase with records of 1-2, but Montenegro advanced with the head-to-head victory. As Group B’s third-place team, they will face Great Britain for the right to go against Hungary in the quarterfinals.
Group C: Turkey 59, Hungary 58
There was nothing much to play for. Turkey had already assured their own elimination by losing their opening two games to Italy and Slovenia. Hungary was going to win the group and advance directly to the quarterfinals on the merit of winning their opening two games against the same two opponents. Turkey had only pride to play for. They managed to salvage it, but just barely.
Kiah Stokes led Turkey once again, scoring 11 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and adding an assist, a steal, and a block to her stat line. Her zero turnovers were equally impressive. She was joined in double digits Olcay Cakir with 11 points and Tugce Canitez with 10. It was just enough.
For Hungary, Bernadett Hatar was one of four players in double figures. Her 15 points led the team followed by Dorina Zele, Debora Dubei, and Agnes Studer with 11 each. No one else scored more than 3 points for the team.
Hungary shot 50 percent from beyond the arc but managed only 26.5 percent from inside the 3-point line. It was enough to do them in but ultimately didn’t matter. The team moves directly to the quarterfinals where they will play the winner of Great Britain and Montenegro’s Monday match-up. The quarterfinal will be held on Thursday, July 4.
Group A: Spain 59, Latvia 56
In another game that didn’t matter, Spain was set to move directly to the quarterfinal and Latvia to the qualifying round. The Spanish team maintained its perfect record and the right to be called a tournament favorite in a close game against the host team.
Astou Ndour once again excelled for the Spanish side. She led the team with 16 points and added 12 rebounds for the double-double. Three steals and 2 blocks completed her stats.
Ndour was the only member of the Spanish team to score at least 10 points. Laura Nicholls and Anna Cruz were the most productive players beside Ndour. Nicholls had 8 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Cruz contributed 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals.
Elina Dikaioulaku was Latvia’s leading scorer for the third straight game. She put up 19 points in the final contest of the preliminary rounds for an average of 23 points per game in the group stage of the tournament. She added 1 rebound, 3 assists, and 1 block, but had a game-high 8 turnovers.
Spain will not play again until Thursday, July 4 when the team will face either Italy or Russia in the quarterfinal round. Latvia moves to the quarterfinal qualifying round where Sweden awaits on Monday, July 1. The winner of that game will move on to play Serbia in the quarterfinal.
Group D: Russia 76, Belarus 62
Unlike the previous two games, Russia and Belarus had everything to play for. The winner moved on the quarterfinal qualifying round; the loser went home. Russia leaned on Maria Vadeeva to guarantee that they would not be the ones sent packing.
Vadeeva had her second double-double of the tournament, putting up 21 points and 13 rebounds while dishing out 3 assists. Raisa Musina had 13 points and Elena Beglova added 12 for the Russian team.
On the Belarusian side, Maryia Papova led with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal. She was joined in double-digit scoring by Alex Bentley (12), Viktoryia Hasper (11), and Tatsiana Likhtarovich (10).
Despite the balanced scoring, Russia was just too much for Belarus. Neither team shot particularly well from distance, but Russia cleaned up from inside the arc. While Belarus only managed to connect on 26 percent of their shots inside the 3-point line, Russia more than doubled that accuracy by connecting on 54 percent of their 2-point shots.
Russia also helped each other, assisting on 21 shots compared to 14 for Belarus. The rebounding battle was close, but the Russians won that, too.
Russia finished third in Group D. Their reward isn’t promising, though. They will face Italy on July 2 to play for the right to take on Spain in the quarterfinals.
Group C: Italy 75, Slovenia 57
Italy and Slovenia faced off to decide who would end up second in Group C and who would be third. As it turned out, the winner would face Russia and the loser moved on to play Belgium. A victory over one of those teams would earn the right to face one of the top two teams in the competition–Spain or France.
Which was more advantageous? Difficult to tell. While Belgium beat Russia in the opening game of the tournament, the Russian team had only gotten stronger in the next two games. Regardless, Italy pulled no punches, taking out Slovenia by almost 20 points and earning the right to face Russia and, possibly, Spain.
Italy was led by Francesca Dotto with a game-high 18 points. She added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal to go along with that. Martina Crippa added 15 points and 7 rebounds, and Olbis Futo Andre threw in a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Nika Baric had 15 points to lead Slovenia. Shante Evans ended up one rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and 9 boards. Annamaria Prezelj added 12 points and a team-high 4 assists.
If Slovenia defeats Belgium on July 2, they will move on to face France in the quarterfinals.