Germany hold off Ukraine, other favorites begin tournament on high note

EILAT (FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship 2017, Division B) - After losing their spots in Division A last year, Germany, Greece and Slovak Republic began their FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship 2017, Division B campaigns with statement wins in Group A.

Meanwhile, it was Belarus, Croatia and Great Britain celebrating good starts on the opening day in an equally entertaining Group B.

Slovak Republic were the first team off the mark, topping neighbors Czech Republic with a 62-56 victory in the derby, Miroslava Mistinova leading the way with a well-rounded performance of 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

In spite of making it closer than they would have liked, Germany also began the tournament on a high note, holding off Ukraine for a 61-60 win after a dramatic finish that saw the Ukrainian women nearly erase a double-digit deficit.

Olga Yatskovets, who collected 32 points and 13 rebounds in the loss, accounted for more than half of her team's scoring, while a Satou Sabally double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds was the best individual performance for Germany.

In the last Group A game of the day, Greece had no problems against Iceland, belting their Nordic opponents 72-42 in a one-sided affair, decided primarily by a huge turnover discrepancy, with Iceland giving the ball up 28 times compared to just 11 giveaways by Greece.

Maria Emmanouela Fasoula was the game's leading scorer for Greece with 22 points and 7 rebounds, while not a single Icelandic player scraped into double-digit territory.

Tournament hosts Israel couldn't capitalize on three quarters of quality basketball, falling apart against Croatia in the final frame of the game to take a 65-51 loss, with the Shira Haelion-coached side scoring just 4 points in the last 10 minutes.

The duet of Ana Petrak and Josipa Silov did most of the damage for Croatia, dropping 19 and 16 points, respectively. Eden Rotberg had a team-high 10 points and 4 assists for Israel in the low-scoring game.

Great Britain went through a couple of turbulent stretches in their opening game against Ireland, but coped exceptionally well after intermission to secure a solid 69-46 win despite still being behind at the halftime break.

Amelia Stevens was the key piece in the win, scoring 18 points and grabbing 7 boards, as Great Britain romped over their opponents 44-18 in the third and fourth quarter combined. Anna Kelly finished with a team-high 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and an unfortunate 10 turnovers for Ireland.

In the last game of the day, Belarus nearly wasted a 19-point first-half lead against Romania, but survived by the slightest of margins to triumph 70-68 despite being down with as little as three minutes left on the clock. 

However, Aryna Masko and Hanna Brych, who finished with 13 and 11 points respectively, came to the rescue with a pair of important baskets to save the day for Belarus. 

Romania's Ana Ferariu was the game's leading scorer with 20 points, while Ioanna Ghizila had 19 points and 7 rebounds.

FIBA