CRO/MNE - Croatia clinch place in Olympic Qualifying Tournament

LODZ (EuroBasket Women) - Croatia beat Montenegro 73-59 in Saturday's 5th place game at EuroBasket Women and made history by clinching their first-ever berth for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Both teams came into the game looking for a win that would earn them a shot at making their Olympic Games debut next summer in London.

The game was close in the first half with the Croats leading 38-35 at the break.

Stipe Bralic's girls used a pivotal third quarter run to stretch their advantage to 55-44 heading into the final frame.

Montenegro tried to get back into the game but fatigue told as they played their third game in as many days.

Down 59-46 with 6:33 left to play, Miodrag Baletic's charges were dealt a huge blow as team leading scorer Iva Perovanovic had to be stretchered off the court with an injury to her right leg. Early reports indicate she suffered ligament damage to her knee.

There was no miracle comeback for the Montenegrins and Croatia held on for an historical win.

Afterwards, Croatia guard Iva Ciglar said her team was closing in on its dream, but wasn't quite there just yet.

"This is not a dream come true just yet, but we are very close," she said of her country having to play the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in order to get into the Olympics.

"Tonight, we all played well. We stopped their key players, we made them take tough shots and at the other end, we made our shots and ran the court well.

"It was a tough tournament and we had some bad games including a bad loss to Montenegro. But we bounced back, nobody really knows how, but we did."

Ciglar took time to pay tribute to Montenegro who were arguably the surprise team of the tournament.

"I'm very happy that we won but I'm very sorry for them because those are great girls, amazing players.

"I really wish they could have qualified for the Olympics but today only one team could win.

"I wish them all the best for the future and I'm sure in years to come they're going to be great."

Joining Croatia in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament will be the Czech Republic and France - who will face each other in Sunday's bronze medal game - as well as the loser of the Final between Turkey or Russia.

Montenegro finished the tournament with a 7-2 mark prompting Anna de Forge to say that her team had every reason to be proud.

"There's nothing for us to hang our heads about. We came here and we won our first six games and finished 7-2," she offered.

"Obviously we lost the most important games but to come as far as we did in two weeks, we're proud of that."

Team captain Jelena Skerovic admitted that fatigue played a huge part in Saturday's result.

"We gave everything we had in yesterday's game (68-59 win over Lithuania) and I think we didn't have enough today. Croatia played very well and they were making all their shots. I think we were too tired because we played three games," she explained.

She also said that the defeat against Croatia combined with the injury to Perovanovic made it hard to see all the positives that came out of their run in the tournament.

"It is very tough right now but we will see the good things later," she added.

In the day's other game, Lithuania outclassed Latvia 75-56 to take 7th place.

The Lithuanians never trailed and sent their opponents to their fifth consecutive defeat.

After the game, Latvia's captain, Gunta Basko, announced her retirement from the national team while head coach George Dikeoulakos revealed his intention to step down from his duties.

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