FIBA Basketball

    Lithuania snap Romania's streak as Semi-Final pairings confirmed

    ORADEA (FIBA U20 Women's European Championship 2018, Division B) – The Semi-Final slots were off the table by Thursday, but Group Phase drama continued in Oradea.

    ORADEA (FIBA U20 Women's European Championship 2018, Division B) – All four of the Semi-Final slots were off the table by Thursday, but Group Phase drama continued at the FIBA U20 European Championship 2018, Division B right until the very end, with Lithuania ending Romania's undefeated run to secure the higher seed for the Medal Round.

    The Baltic side leapfrogged Romania in the Group A standings with a 67-52 victory, made possible by a powerful second-half performance, as Gabija Meskonyte netted a game-high 18 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.

    Livija Sakeviciute was the only other double-digit scorer for Lithuania with 16 points, while Alina Podar and Anamaria Virjoghe had 10 points apiece for Romania.
    Romania dropped to second place in Group A

    The result of the game confirmed the Semi-Final match-ups, with the first-seeded Lithuania facing neighbors Belarus, and Romania paired up with the Czech Republic, who finished atop the standings in Group B.

    Czech Republic also stayed unbeaten after registering a 67-63 win over Denmark, while Belarus finished the Preliminary Round with an 84-39 blowout against bottom-of-the-pack Iceland. 

    Natallia Harbachova and Maryia Adashchyk combined for 43 points for the Belarusian side, outscoring the Icelandic team by themselves. Adashcyk finished with a game-high 22 points, while Harbachova chipped in with 21 of her own.

    Saturday's Semi-Final pairings
    Lithuania v Belarus Czech Republic v Romania [/unordered]

    Out of the race for the medals, Bulgaria put themselves in a solid position ahead of the Classification Games with a 54-52 win over Turkey with Petya Boyadzieva carrying the winners to the finish line with a 19-point effort.

    Bulgaria and Turkey will be joined by Ukraine and Israel in the battles for 5th-8th places. Ukraine finished third in Group A with an 87-69 win over Israel, who won a head-to-head tie-breaker against Great Britain to claim fourth place in the standings.

    A 58-50 win against Greece could not turn the fortunes around for Great Britain, who finished the Group Phase with a 2-3 record after defeating the top-ranked and the last-ranked teams in the group.

    FIBA