LTU - Lessons learned for Lithuania

PANEVEZYS (FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - It proved to be a fairly brutal initiation to the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women for hosts Lithuania, as their big opening day moment was spoiled by the United States who wreaked utter havoc with a commanding 113-47 victory.

It was a breathless display by the champions and at times, Lithuania were simply treading water and desperately trying to stem the incessant tide of deadly fastbreaks and the prolific Breanna Stewart.

One major positive for head coach Diliara Velishaieva is that Lithuania are unlikely to have a more difficult game lying in wait.

There were also other positives to take from the game according to the play-caller, who was keen that the Lithuanian players and coaching staff soaked up some valuable lessons from their Day 1 mauling.

"I think the positives are that we know at this level, we have to be faster getting back on defense and we have also identified some work to do with our center players," mused Velishaieva.

"I also think that it showed our players that whatever is happening on the court, it is important that you always try to play with confidence.

"The most important aspect of these situations is that you play as you can play as a team and you don't back down or give up.

"You have to keep going and fight right until the end."

There was also an impressive display from Ieva Kazlauskaite to savour. The forward was the one Lithuanian player who really seemed to relish the challenge and came up with 14 points from a respectable six of 10 shooting from the floor.

Coach Velishaieva did also admit that with the bulk of her team having only competed in the second tier of both the U18 and U16 European Championship tournaments, getting out of Division B at all levels was absolutely essential.

"We have had a couple of weak generations, so it has been hard to try and get back into Division A," she said with candour.

"But it is very important that in the near future we get back to this level so players can compete against the best European teams regularly.

"This also means that when we come to tournaments like this one, the gap in games, such as against USA, might not be as big for us."

Attention now switches to Mali, with Velishaieva making it clear that this was always the contest which Lithuania had targeted as being the key game of their Group D schedule.

"Yes, it is the most important game for us and that means being well prepared," she confirmed.

"A win against Mali is what we always had in mind because with this, then maybe we could go quite far, but to lose would make it very difficult."

In addition to Mali, Lithuania will also play China on Day 3 in Panevezys.

FIBA