LAT – Russia, France join Spain, Latvia in Quarter-Finals

RIGA (EuroBasket Women) - France and Russia both won for the fourth consecutive time on Friday at the EuroBasket Women to join Spain and hosts Latvia in the Quarter-Finals with two games to spare.

All of the teams at the event are trying to claim spots for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women that will be staged in the Czech Republic.

Russia are still waiting for their CSKA Moscow point guard Becky Hammon to arrive from the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars and they didn't play particularly well but still blew away Belarus 66-51.

Maria Stepanova had 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in the victory.

Belarus have now lost three of their four games at the EuroBasket Women and need victories in their remaining two games to advance to the last eight.

Lithuania are in the same situation after suffering a 57-55 defeat to late-game specialists France.

Les Bleus trailed for the entire second half until Sandrine Gruda's go-ahead lay-up with 1:47 left made it 56-55.

Gruda made one of two free throws to increase the advantage to two with 37 seconds left and Lithuania coach Rutenis Paulauskas called timeout.

Play resumed but Lithuania failed to execute. They ended up with Rima Valentiene attempting to make an inbounds pass from the sideline with five seconds remaining.

France point guard Celine Dumerc came up with the interception to end the threat.

She finished with a team-high three steals. Gruda had a game-high 18 points to lead all scorers.

Dumerc scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out eight assists.

Isabelle Yacoubou-Dehoui came off the bench for Pierre Vincent's Les Bleues and in 14 minutes had eight points and eight rebounds.

Friday's other game saw Turkey claim a very important 64-59 triumph over Italy.

Both sides had won 2-1 records in their groups in Valmiera. The result means that Turkey are now third in Group F behind the Russians and France.

The guard play for Turkey was the difference.

Playmaker Birsel Vardarli had her best game of the EuroBasket with 18 points and finished one rebound shy of a double-double.

She also came up with two steals against the Azzurre.

The Slovakians, meanwhile, will be without Ivana Jalcova for the remainder of the tournament because of a broken finger she suffered in Friday’s important win over Poland.

Slovakia face Latvia on Saturday night. Spain take on Poland and the Czech Republic go up against Greece earlier in the day.

FIBA