NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide) - The second game day of the second FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 qualifiers window was as exhilarating as the previous ones. Here's my A to Z rundown of last Wednesday's action!

A is for Anne Breitreiner who retired last year for Germany and was rightly subject to a special presentation ahead of her country's game with Serbia to acknowledge a fantastic career in national team colours.

C is for calculator and if you haven't got one, you will need to buy before the November window! Some of these groups and runners-up spots could get complicated.

D is for defensive rebounds and Helena Sverrisdottir grabbed 15 of them in Iceland's ground-breaking win against Hungary and that is more than any other players has managed in the competition.

F is for fouls and free-throws, after Lithuania drew a mammoth competition high 32 fouls and shot a tournament high 38 free-throws against Latvia, but they still ended up losing.

G is for Great Britain who beat a top European team for the first time since 2013 having seen their hopes dangled on a precipice when 10 points adrift in the last quarter against EuroBasket Women 2015 Quarter-Finalists Montenegro. But they came tearing back to prevail.

I is for Israel who were brilliant as they turned around a large deficit against Turkey to complete what they are describing as one of their most famous wins ever! It ignited their prospects.

J is for Johannah Leedham, a role model in my homeland. She can score, plays rugged defense and is a leader. She dropped a massive 28 points against Montenegro and for me, is one of the most improved players on the continent. I'd be scrambling for her signature if I was a club GM. Her rebounding numbers from the 2/3 position tell a story.

K is for Kamile Nacickaite who provided the photo of the day when she was laid out on the floor - completely devastated at having her Final Round dreams shattered when her team lost.

L is for Lithuania [Naickaite's team] who were the first big casualty as their FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 hopes imploded after going down to neighbours Latvia again and a fatal 0-3 record.

M is for [Endene] Miyem and most consistent performer in the women's game. She led the way once more for flawless France in the win against Estonia. Such a solid machine of relentless reliability.

N is for November and the last window, when it's going down for real on the 19th and 23rd. Get it in the diary!

O is for only 40 points, but still a new high tide mark for strugglers Albania [against Italy]. They are on a long journey to be competitive at this level, but every small step matters.

P is for [Gintare] Petronyte who could barely have done more to save Lithuania with a colossal 31 points and 10 rebounds.

Q is for qualification and that is what Spain achieved when they coasted to victory against Sweden to become the first nation to join hosts Czech Republic at Final Round next year.

S is for [Helena] Sverrisdottir who inspired Iceland to their famous victory against Hungary by lighting it up in Reykjavik with a classy 29 points and 16 boards!

T is for three-pointers and Latvia made 11 of them against Lithuania from only 18 attempts which was a better return than any other team so far in in the tournament at 61 percent!

U is for unless I am mistaken, Bosnia and Herzegovina won their first game at the top level for almost eight years, when they beat Romania so congratulations to them!

V is for [Tatiana] Vidmer who yet again starred for Russia and her return seems to have largely flown under the radar, but her addition and form are real pluses.

W is for watch out when emotion gets the better of you, as I actually fell off my chair when Ella Clark hit the clutch three-pointer for Great Britain when beating Montenegro. Please note my FIBA neutrality was superseded by me working for GB at the event!

X is for 'X-Factor' and a very prominent one in this competition, it is that every point scored or given up really does count. With a limited number of runners-up progressing and three-way ties looming, every play until the final buzzer is potentially priceless.

Y is for young stars and watch out for 1996-born Nogaye Lo, who got minutes and a score for Spain against Sweden.

Z is for [Shavonte] Zellous who dropped a nice 20 points for Croatia against Netherlands. Some said I had called out the guard for a lack of production. But I'm really happy to praise this display and it hopefully reiterated the point I previously made!

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

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