Spain's women and Slovenia's men win 3x3 U18 European Championships Latvia Qualifier

RIGA (FIBA 3x3 U18 European Championships Qualifier) - Spain's women and Slovenia's men won and led a list of 11 teams who qualified to the 2016 FIBA 3x3 U18 European Championships during the Latvia Qualifier on 16-17 July.

In the women's category, it was a walk in the park for Spain who had a perfect 7-0 record. The U18 World Championships bronze medallists destroyed Belgium 20-6 in the final. It was in fact one of their closest game of the tournament: Spain conceded just 28 points in 7 games, meaning a ridiculous 4 points on average.

The super skilled Paulo Ginzo was an uncontested top scorer (53 points). Evita Herminjard (Switzerland) and Naira Cáceres (Spain) finished second and third in the scoring list with 39 and 32 points respectively.

It wasn't all that simple for Slovenia's men, who actually lost their opener against Spain. The U18 World Championships quarter-finalists went on to win their next four in cold-blooded fashion. Every one of these games were decided by 3 points or less, including a hard-fought final victory against the Latvian hosts (15-14).

The crafty Slovenian playmaker Matic Siska led all scorers with 32, ahead of Tanalp Sengün (Turkey, 30 pts) and Uladzislau Mikulski (Belarus, 29pts). 

In total, 11 teams punched their ticket to the 2016 FIBA 3x3 U18 European Championships, which will be held in Debrecen, Hungary on 9-11 September.

Women: Spain, Belgium, Russia, Switzerland and Netherlands

Men: Slovenia, Latvia, Serbia, Romania, Turkey and Germany

FIBA