Newcomers continue to impress
TINARO-TEGUISE-LANZAROTE (2015 U20 European Championship Women Div. A) - Portugal improved the prospects of marking their return to U20 European Championship Women with a Quarter-final place, following a battling 64-60 defeat of Italy in Lanzarote on Tuesday.
The newly-promoted Portuguese led by as many as 13 points early in the second half but the gap was reduced to two inside the final three minutes.
That is when Laura Ferreira stepped up to drain a dagger three-pointer and end Italian hopes of a comeback and keep Portugal in the scrap for the last eight ahead of Wednesday's clash with Spain.
The hosts secured their place in the Quarter-Finals by riding out a hot start from the Netherlands to triumph 63-49.
Belen Arrojo had 18 points for Spain, who handled the Dutch's best shot before pulling away to make the result safe.
Belgium won the other game in Group F, closing on a 13-6 sequence to overcome Hungary, 69-62.
Hind Ben Abdelkader was Belgium's standout performer once more, scoring the go-ahead three-pointer to kick-start the strong finish and total 27 points personally.
France and Russia will play for top spot in Group E on Wednesday after they came through tests against Slovak Republic and Poland respectively.
Russia almost fell foul to another late collapse, having squandered a healthy lead against Latvia on Monday.
A 16-point advantage became just four with four minutes to play before Russia showed the necessary steel to ice the game from the free throw line, 67-60.
Despite the loss, Slovak Republic still advance to the Quarter-Finals with other results going in their favour.
Conversely, France steadily built their lead with a consistent, balanced performance full of high-percentage shots to continue unbeaten with a 69-47 victory.
Germany, meanwhile, became the first team eliminated from the Second Round as they fell to Latvia, 62-55.
The German side battled back from 15 points down to level inside the final period. But Latvia responded, led by 21 points and 12 rebounds from 16-year-old Digna Strautmane, to head into Wednesday's meeting with Poland in fine form.
Turkey and Serbia made it two wins from two in Classification Group G, overcoming Ukraine (62-45) and Czech Republic (86-82), who meet on Wednesday.
Go to http://u20women.fibaeurope.com/en/default.asp for full coverage of the 2015 U20 European Championship Women Div. A.
FIBA