Greece show guts to keep hopes alive

DEBRECEN (EuroBasket Women 2015) - The Second Round tension and drama continues to flow freely at EuroBasket Women 2015 after George Dikeoulakos masterminded a priceless win for underdogs Greece in Group E on Friday.

Barely expected to make it out of the opening phase of the competition - let alone move to within a potential Quarter-Final place - the play-caller is working his magic for his team.

Greece came from behind against Czech Republic to collect a 74-71 victory, although Dikeoulakos had to address more than a couple of issues while in the locker room at the interval.

"We were following the Czech Republic in defense and on offense so I don't know what we were doing, but at half-time we talked about how they had scored 25 points from our own mistakes," revealed the coach.

"We gave them these points and that wasn't our usual defense. Our defence normally gives up 50 points per game, yet we gave them 50 in one half.

"This is what had to be fixed and we played with energy, passion and played smart after that.

“We started actually playing within our roles and we also switched to a zone defence and were able to gain confidence from this.

“That’s how we built the win.”

Veteran forward Styliani Kaltsidou set the tone at both ends of the court with some big defensive plays and she also scored her team's last 10 points of the contest to take her tally to 20 for the game.

It would certainly be an astonishing achievement if Dikeoulakos took Greece to the last phase of the competition in Budapest next week and it will hinge on a meeting with Montenegro who are also defying predictions.

Meanwhile, after having been well and truly humbled against Turkey, Momir Milatovic and Montenegro bounced back with a 77-72 win against Belarus - a victory made all the more impressive by the fact it was achieved without injured kingpin, Jelena Dubljevic.

It was yet another dramatic match-up - something which has certainly become a common theme at the tournament, with Angelica Robinson and Milica Jovanovic picking up the slack in the paint for their absent team-mate.

The former had a massive double-double of 15 points and 17 boards, while Jovanovic top-scored with 20 points to condemn their opponents to successive losses.

France tasted their first loss of the tournament after being beaten 66-56 by Turkey, but Les Bleues still advanced to the Quarter-Finals.

Turkey boosted their chances with arguably their best display of the competition as Lara Sanders amassed 23 points to set up what promises to be a thrilling last day of action in Group E on Sunday.

Go to EuroBasketWomen2015.com for full coverage of EuroBasket Women 2015.

FIBA