HERAKLION (Greece) - The Semi-Finals of the FIBA U18 Women's European Championship will see Spain, France, Germany and Lithuania do battle as the race for the podium intensifies. 

France arguably claimed the most impressive Quarter-Finals win as they beat the the last champions of the event back in 2019. They claimed a convincing 71-48 success against Italy, with center Rosanne Le Seyec producing her most productive display so far with 16 points. Italy endured a miserable night offensively with just 5 points in the third period and shot just 2 of 18 from downtown.

The French victory sets up a mouth-watering Semi-Finals matchup with Spain, who was pushed tremendously hard by Finland but finished the content on a 10-0 run that eventually handed them a 63-52 triumph. There's no stopping Carla Brito just now and she made another exciting contribution of 16 points and 11 boards, while Elena Buenavida Estevez came alive with a team-high 23 points.

Germany only just scraped their way into the Quarter-Finals in dramatic fashion, but have made the most of their escape, beating Poland 53-43 to get within touching distance of the podium. They restricted their opponents to just one basket in the second quarter and that put them on course for victory - as did another stellar show from Frieda Buhner, who had 10 points and 13 boards.

It's Lithuania who are waiting for Germany in the Semi-Finals after the Baltic side defeated Czech Republic 87-81 in an absorbing clash. The contest contained two of the biggest individual performances of the tournament so far. Juste Jocyte led her team to victory with a sparkling 31 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, while Dominika Paurova showed out with 22 points and 15 rebounds in defeat.

Relegation fears deepened for those who lost in the classification games, in contrast to relief for the winners who are now guaranteed survival in the top tier. Belgium sneaked past Israel 62-58 having trailed by double-digits, with Nastja Claessens the savior after posting 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Latvia stormed past Sweden 91-53, benefitting from a tournament-high 13 assists from Enija Viksne. Hungary bounced back from Round of 16 agony to pile pressure on hosts Greece with a 57-45 success, founded on 10 points, 12 rebounds and 6 steals from Edina Strausz.  Finally, Turkey had little difficulty beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 80-35, helped  by Tuana Coskun who netted 16 points.

FIBA