Petronyte dynamite for Lithuania

SOPRON (EuroBasket Women 2015) - It's in the big games that star players really earn their status and Gintare Petronyte delivered at a crucial time for Lithuania.

With their Second Round hopes on the line, the Baltic nation were aided by the dynamic performance of their starting center down the stretch as they downed co-hosts Hungary, 72-66 on Saturday.

Lithuania had looked in complete control against Hungary, up by as many as 21 points in the third, only to see the hosts rally with a 20-0 blitz to take a slender 53-52 advantage with 8:35 remaining.

It was from this point on where Petronyte truly deserved her plaudits. Despite already claiming a double-double before the fourth quarter, the former EuroCup Women winner stepped up with six straight points after her team fell behind and went on to finish with 11 of her 28 points in the final quarter.

Her performance was more aggressive than in defeats against Spain and the Slovak Republic with Petronyte able to draw a number of fouls - going 11-of-14 from the line - and grab 12 rebounds as part of Lithuania's sheer dominance on the boards (49-31).

Petronyte was keen to pay tribute to the efforts of the team rather than focus on her own performance, although her teammates were in no doubt who the game hero was as they gathered round to congratulate her following the win.

"I'm so proud of my team for getting the win," she said. "We played for each other and gave a lot of heart in the performance.

"It wasn't easy. I don't know what happened in the second half, we maybe believed we would win a little too early, but we still had to keep going until the very end.

We knew we had to win and we came out strong - much stronger than the two previous days. - Petronyte

"[Sunday] is another important game for us [against Sweden] and we have to ready all our energy and be able to give everything we have in the last game."

Petronyte is a former FIBA Europe Young Player of the Year winner - an illustrious group with previous winners including Alba Torrens, Sandrine Gruda and Alina Iagupova - all of whom are making their mark in Hungary and Romania.

At 26 years of age, this is already her fifth Final Round appearance with Lithuania - providing her country with valuable experience with just two players in the squad, Vita Kuktiene and Sandra Linkeviciene, older than her at 34 and 33 respectively.

With that in mind, and with a head coach, in Mantas Sernius, at the helm for a first major international tournament, you can be forgiven for thinking that this is part of a learning process for Lithuania.

Those thoughts might be echoed after the conclusion of their campaign, but for now, they have the chance to extend their time at EuroBasket Women 2015.

As much as another strong performance from Petronyte is needed, the need for the supporting cast is just as important if they are to overcome the challenge of Sweden in a pivotal clash.

The Swedes will be much stronger defensively as they showed in shutting down Hungary for their first win on Friday, and then there's the potent force of Frida Eldebrink leading the offence with 22.5 points per game so far.

Petronyte will take some stopping too, if she gets going, but she will need help if Lithuania are to advance to the Second Round as they did four years ago, in Poland, en route to a seventh place finish.

Go to EuroBasketWomen2015.com for full coverage of EuroBasket Women 2015.

FIBA