PLOIESTI (Romania) - Montenegro won the FIBA U18 Women's EuroBasket, Division B title after coming from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Czechia 63-58.
They were led in scoring by tournament MVP Jelena Bulajic with 19 points and 3 rebounds, while point guard Atina Radevic controlled the clutch under pressure. Czechia had taken a five-point lead into the fourth quarter after putting faith into volume three-point shooting, putting up 34 attempts in the game. Their lead held until Janja Dragasic got one of her two field goals to tie the game, taking advantage of drop coverage with a mid-range jumper.
With the game in the balance, Radevic orchestrated Montenegro's offense making a tough lay-up, finding Rondovic in the corner for a long two and then making a hook shot to extend the lead to five with 1 minute 17 remaining.
Czechia were unable to draw back level, turning the ball over on their last chance to tie the ball game with a three-pointer.
Earlier, Greece produced a comfortable win over Bulgaria 70-51 to seal third place and thus promotion to Division A.
Aristea Paraskevopoulo led the way with a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds with 3 steals. Vasiliki Cholopoulou also scored freely, finishing with 18 points, including 3 three-pointers, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. With only a 5-point advantage at the half, a couple of consecutive Greece buckets including a Cholopoulou three extended that lead to 10 and there was no looking back for Greece. The third quarter put them in position for the win as a Cholopoulou 4-point play further extended the lead to 14 and going into the fourth quarter they it was an 18-point advantage.
Elsewhere, Lithuania beat Great Britain in the battle for fifth place 73-62 and Slovakia made light work of Bosnia and Herzegovina for seventh 85-47.
FIBA