NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen’s Women’s Basketball Worldwide) – The first set of games in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2019 Qualifiers threw up plenty of talking points and here's my A to Z rundown.

A is for alternative All-Star Five different to Saturday’s official top performers – based on more of the crunch games. Katerina Elhotova (Czech Republic), Jo Leedham (Great Britain), Anastasiya Verameyenka (Belarus), Cyesha Goree (Hungary) and Amanda Zahui (Sweden).

B is for Bosnia and Herzegovina who beat Slovak Republic [albeit a weakened opponent] without the need for the naturalized Lynetta Kizer.

C is for clutch and Chantelle Handy.

D is for destination Latvia and Serbia!

E is for efficiency and even if it was against Albania, I can’t remember ever seeing a shooting performance as good as the 75 percent from 2-point range posted by Russia.

F is for Fagbenle and the CCC Polkowice center and WNBA champion, Temi came up with a monster block for Great Britain against Israel.

G is for Great Britain and the greatest game of day one.

H is for Hungary who I thought had the most impressive result of anyone by winning on the road in Lithuania. They get my performance of the day!

I is for Israel who suffered the most heartache out of all nations, but why didn’t they just foul at the end of regulation?

J is for Jelena Dubljevic who took the captain’s armband for Montenegro with authority and promptly turned in a 30-point showing that made her the top individual performer of the day!

K is for killer statistic of the day and for me it was Croatia getting a massive 18 offensive rebounds and yet still losing narrowly to Sweden. This was a huge opportunity and advantage which they should have made more of it.

L is for landmark first competitive wins for many play-callers such as Francois Gomez (Sweden), Stefan Svietk (Czech Republic), Roberto Iniguez (Montenegro), Olaf Lange (Russia) and Marco Crespi (Italy), to name but a few.

M is for Montenegro against Bosnia and Herzegovina which after both teams won, sets us up beautifully for the big derby on Wednesday!

N is for naturalized players and it was Cyesha Goree who stole the show. The decision of Hungary to replace Courtney Vandersloot looked like a masterstroke as the newcomer gave them much needed edge in the paint – with 21 points and 7 boards against Lithuania.

O is for only I would keep clicking on the Serbia Federation site waiting for a roster and not remembering they are automatically through as co-hosts!

P is for powerhouse duo Spain and France who showed their power and why they contested the 2017 Final, by both delivering crushing road wins in Bulgaria and Finland respectively.

Q is for questions need to be asked of Slovak Republic, because having brilliantly reached the top eight at Final Round, all momentum has been lost because of the ridiculous amount of absentees.

R is for rising stars and especially Olbis Futo Andre! Then exciting Italian talent had a debut to remember with a terrific 10 points and 12 boards against MKD.

S is for Stefan Svitek who many feel might have a tough job on his hands with Czech Republic, but what a start he had with a massive win on the road in Germany. Hugely impressive!

T is for Turkey’s new generation. Is it the real deal? It’s hard to tell against a weaker opponent such as Estonia, but the signs are good with Olcay Cakir, Pelin Bilgic, Tilbe Senyurek, Ayse Cora and Cansu Koksal looking solid.

U is for Ukraine ace Alina Iagupova who remains such a breath taking player whenever she is on the floor. She corralled 33 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists against Netherlands.

V is for veterans always get the thumbs up from me and nice to see Stella Kaltsidou still going strong for Greece.

W is for Wednesday when we do it all over again!

X is for ‘X-Factor’ and it seemed like depth won the day in most games.

Y is for young players doing the business for Slovenia in their win in Romania. What an exciting future with Annamaria Prezelj, Akesandra Kroselj, Zala Friskovec and Larisa Ocvirk all under 21-years-old!

Z is for Zahui, with Sweden star on top form and recording a magnificent 18 points and 17 rebounds.

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

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