France dodge bullet, Spain roll over Germany to start U16 European Championship Women Second Round

MATOSINHOS (2015 U16 European Championship Women) - The first day of the Second Round at the U16 European Championship Women in Matosinhos witnessed France save their unbeaten status as they dodged an upset at the hands of Latvia.

Cathy Melain and her team were unbeaten after the opening phase of the tournament and made it four wins in four games but had to dodge a bullet in collecting a narrow 52-51 success in Group F. Tima Pouye was the difference maker after scoring the winning basket that ended a worrying French drought down the stretch, as well as top-scoring with 13 points.

The other unbeaten team in the same Group had less trouble in extending their unbeaten run to four games, with Hungary breezing their way to an 83-60 victory against Belgium. Dorka Juhasz was inspired as she drained 26 points from a brilliant 81.8 perecent shooting performance and harvested 11 boards.

The only team Spain have lost to so far are Hungary and they made it three wins in four after rolling over Second Round first-timers Germany with a blistering second-half effort. Spain raced clear after the break and took a one-sided 74-45 triumph, with every player on the roster scoring.

Turkey pushed Russia hard in Group E during the first half of their clash, but fell 70-47 as their opponents preserved their perfect record, mainly due to an eye-boggling 22-2 third quarter. Yulia Zarubina impressed with 15 points and 7 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Czech Republic carved out a 70-55 win against Portugal after a sensational tournament-high 30 points by Veronika Sipova, who also amassed 8 rebounds in one of the most outstanding performances of the competition so far.

Italy are also still riding high and without a loss after safely negotiating Slovak Republic 75-59 as Elisa Pinzan amassed 20 points after sinking six attempts from long-range.

Finally in the Classification Round, there were first wins for Croatia, who beat Serbia 74-59 in a derby encounter and also for Netherlands, who waltzed their way past England 76-57.

Go to http://u16women.fibaeurope.com/en/default.asp for full coverage of the 2015 U16 European Championship Women.

FIBA