Eight teams still in the race for the Semi-Finals
EILAT (FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship 2017, Division B) - No single team can yet be sure of a place in the Semi-Finals and the path to the next round remains open for eight national teams.
EILAT (FIBA U20 Women's European Championship 2017, Division B) - No single team can yet be sure of a place in the FIBA U20 Women's European Championship 2017, Division B Semi-Finals and the path remains open for more than half of the participating teams, but Belarus is in the best position ahead of the final day of action on Thursday.
The Volha Padabed-coached Belarusian side, who have their sights set on returning to Division A after being relegated back in 2014, continued their successful campaign with a 70-58 victory against Great Britain to improve to a 4-0 mark in Group B.
Aryna Masko had another big game for her country with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals, while Gabriele Nikitinaite dropped a team-high 16 points for Great Britain, whose chances of advancing are now theoretical in nature.
Their closest rivals Croatia and tournament hosts Israel also celebrated wins to move to 3-1 marks, but Belarus remains in the driver's seat heading into Thursday's game against the home team in Eilat.
Croatia swallowed Ireland with a one-sided 83-49 scoreline after coming up with 19 offensive rebounds and finishing the game with a double-digit advantage in second-chance points. Andrea Maric fought like a lioness on the boards, collecting a double-double of 15 points and 20 rebounds, also adding 3 steals and 2 blocks.
Meanwhile, Israel continued to show quality basketball in front of their fans, edging Romania 63-57 behind Lior Hadas Halevi's big game of 16 points, 9 rebounds and a block. Ecaterina Armanu collected 14 points and 5 boards in a losing effort for Romania.
The only previously unbeaten Group A team Germany were finally halted by Slovak Republic, who put on another fine defensive display and registered a 56-42 win to bring their records level at 3-1.
Miroslava Mistinova was the game's leading scorer with 15 points for the winners, Tereza Sedlakova chipped in with 13, while forward Satou Sabally was the only double-digit scorer for Germany with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
Bittere Pille für unsere #U20Damen: 42:56-Niederlage gegen die Slowakei bei der B-EM 👉🏼 https://t.co/zQBO7MA6dW #KoerbefuerD #basketball
— Dt. Basketball Bund (@DBB_Basketball) July 12, 2017
Greece wasted no time in joining the two other teams with a 3-1 mark at the top of the standings, following suit with a 70-63 victory over Ukraine. Evgenia Kollatou of the Greek national team scored 23 points, dished out 10 assists, came away with 9 steals and grabbed 7 rebounds for an overall ranking of 40.
Having picked up their second win with a 55-44 defeat of Iceland behind Natalie Stoupalova's double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, Czech Republic maintained an outside shot of making the Semi-Finals, but that would require favorable results in other games in addition to winning against Greece.
Permutations
In Group A, Greece and Slovak Republic will be through to the Semi-Finals with wins, while Germany must hope that one of them slips up, as they will be third in a three-way tie if all three teams were to finish 4-1 in Group A.
Czech Republic need Germany to win, Slovak Republic to lose and to pick up a win upwards of 12 points against Greece to advance.
Meanwhile, Belarus can lose by as many 10 points and still be safely through to the Semi-Finals in Group B. Croatia can advance with any win, while Israel have to beat Belarus by at least 11 points if Croatia pick up a win. Any win will be enough for Israel if Croatia lose on Thursday.
Great Britain are now left hoping for a miracle, as they need to win by at least 63 against Croatia and for Israel to lose their final group game.
FIBA