Owczarzak hoping to make Poland cut

WARSAW (EuroBasket Women 2015) - Young gun Dominika Owczarzak is hoping she can survive all the way to EuroBasket Women next month and make her Final Round debut after surviving the first few cuts made by Poland ahead of the tournament.

The guard, who played as a teenager at the EuroLeague Women Final Eight for head coach Jacek Winnicki in a CCC Polkowice vest two years ago, remains firmly in contention.

Winnicki has already opted to release Dominika Miolszewska and Alexandra Pawlak as he trims his roster down, the latter perhaps something of a surprise having played in EuroLeague Women with Energa Torun this past season.

Poland lost both of their match-ups against Sweden over the weekend, but Owczarzak is hoping the coach keeps faith in her own services and that she can be part of a new generation for her country.

"We have been working hard in training for a week now and we have also been tested during these matches," she said.

"We hope that some young players will be in the final 12, but we will have to see what the decision of the coach will be.

"I think that it was not really about the result in the [Sweden] games - it was not the most important thing.

"We know that we played with almost a reserve composition, so these meetings were considered more like typical training.

"On Saturday, Sweden had superior efficiency for three point shooting and it was hard to stop.

"We still played with full commitment and so on Sunday, the match ended with a smaller points difference."

Owczarzak is a player who likes to play defense and that could be the golden ticket which takes her to Hungary and Romania, after she confirmed it is the element of the game on which her team will rely most heavily.

"All the time we are working on it," she confessed.

"In each team there are other rules on defense, but we strive to clearly define the rules that prevail in this team.

"Of course we need some time for everybody to get used to it, but such is the style of Coach Winnicki that defence is crucial.

"We are also getting to know a new competitor in Julie McBride too."

Poland preliminary squad for EuroBasket Women 2015: Marta Jujka, Ewelina Kobryn, Martyna Koc, Katarzyna Krezel, Magdalena Leciejewska, Julie McBride, Malgorzata Misiuk, Aldona Morawiec, Elizabeth Mowlik, Monika Naczk, Dominika Owczarzak, Paulina Pawlak, Agnieszka Skobel, Angelika Stankiewicz, Agnieszka Szott-Hejmej, Magdalena Zietara, Justyna Zurowska-Cegielska.

Go to eurobasketwomen2015.com for full 0coverage of EuroBasket Women 2015.

FIBA