FIBA Basketball

    Latvia take care of business, Belgium back after a decade

    Review

    MUNICH (FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 Qualifiers) - Latvia were able to take care of business in Riga, whilst Belgium set up a return to the Final Round following a 10-year absence.

    MUNICH (FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 Qualifiers) - Latvia were able to take care of business in Riga, whilst Belgium set up a return to the Final Round following a 10-year absence.

    Belgium knew victory would be enough to qualify as Group G winners and they duly obliged with a 61-77 victory on the road against Poland.

    "It was a very good victory," said Belgium's head coach Philip Mestdagh.

    "It is a very big step for women's basketball in Belgium.

    "We are a young group and I think we can improve and do even better in the future.

    "It's our first EuroBasket in 10 years, so we have to be ambitious."

    Ann Wauters top scored with a game-high 16 points along with 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in the valuable win for her side.

    Latvia took care of business to advance as the best runners-up with a 77-66 success over Slovenia - who had already assured themselves of a tournament debut next summer.

    Also winning to avoid any complications were Hungary in Group E as they recorded a 49-68 win away at Slovak Republic, who still advanced as a best-ranked runner-up. 

    A photo posted by Zsófi Varga (@_vargazsofi_) on

    Greece endured a bitter-sweet feeling in Kursk as although they suffered a 67-53 loss against Russia, they had still done enough to progress.

    Serbia were in a similar position and the reigning EuroBasket Women champions have the chance to defend their title in the Czech Republic despite losing 82-88 at home to Ukraine. 

    Another team able to secure qualification on their home floor were Montenegro after they defeated Italy 66-57 in Podgorica.

    Jelena Dubljevic netted an impressive 29 points on 10-of-12 shooting as her side were made to wait on other results before being confirmed as one of the best runners-up.

    As a result of Belgium's victory, the fate of Belarus - who were not in action - was out of their hands but they would end up taking the last remaining ticket.

    Israel, Sweden and Croatia were the three runners-up to miss out on a place at EuroBasket Women 2017.

    Other Results:

    Group B
    France 84-65 Croatia
    Netherlands 70-43 Estonia

    Group C
    Albania 55-97 Great Britain

    Group D
    Luxembourg 54-94 Germany

    Group E
    Iceland 65-54 Portugal

    Group F
    Switzerland 48-72 Bulgaria

    Group H
    Turkey 64-54 Romania
    Bosnia and Herzegovina 62-80 Israel

    Group I
    Sweden 94-45 Finland

    FIBA