UKR – Ukraine homing in on place in Latvia

KIEV (EuroBasket Women Additional Qualifying Round) - Two games into the Additional Qualifying Round for this year's EuroBasket Women and Ukraine are playing like a runaway train.

Volodymyr Bryukhovetskiy's team rolled to a 73-47 victory over Germany on Wednesday to improve to 2-0 in Group A.

Germany and Bulgaria are each 0-1.

CSKA Moscow's Olexandra Gorbunova had 15 of her team-high 20 points in the first quarter for Ukraine, who now take a breather while Germany host Bulgaria in Hagen this weekend.

The winners of Group A and Group B will advance to the Final Round in Latvia but Ukraine are taking nothing for granted.

In their Division A games last summer, they hammered Germany at home 93-39 but then lost at the Germans when the two sides played again.

That defeat ultimately cost them direct qualification for Latvia.

"We have made the first two steps towards qualification, but we have two more still to take," Gorbunova said.

"We will try to stay focused and hopefully we will prepare well for the road game in Germany."

Imre Szittya, the Germany coach, knows his team is up against it when it comes to reaching Latvia after falling to such a heavy defeat in Ukraine.

"We really want to show that we can play at this level when we face Ukraine at home," he said.

Italy, meanwhile, won their opener at Belgium 81-69.

In Group B, Italy and Croatia are each 1-0 and Belgium are 0-2.

Romania and Great Britain, meanwhile, have each enjoyed 2-0 starts in the Relegation Round which means they have an excellent chance of secured their Division A status.

After Britain's 91-58 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sheffield on Wednesday, Britain coach Mark Clark said: "You have to be pleased with two wins. Lisa Hutchinson had a nice game in front of her home crowd and Harriett Yea did a great job at the three-point line.

"Plus, you can't underestimate how Kristy (Lavin) has come back. That's probably the biggest pleasure we have as we weren't sure how she would come back from injury."

Lavin made three three-pointers and finished with 15 points.

Romania won their game at home over Finland, 80-49.

Both Finland and Bosnia and Herzegovina are 0-2.

FIBA