Who's in - Russia Women

LODZ (London 2012) - Russia cruised to a comfortable 59-42 win over Turkey in the Final of the EuroBasket Women on Sunday to take the sole automatic place on offer to European teams for the Olympic Games.

With star centre Maria Stepanova leading the way, the Russians jumped to a 19-8 first quarter lead and never looked back.

The win meant that, for the third consecutive time, Russia qualified automatically for the Olympic Games courtesy of being champions of Europe.

They achieved this in both 2003 and 2007.

This won't come as much of a surprise though as Boris Sokolovsky's charges have been a model of consistency for the better part of a decade.

Consider this: since 2001, the Russians have reached every final of the EuroBasket Women.

Also, aside from a surprise Quarter-Final exit last year in the Czech Republic, they have made it a habit to regularly feature on the podium at both the Olympic Games and the FIBA World Championships for Women.

Their defeat of Turkey in Sunday's Final, however, might not have been possible if not for a scare that forced them to step up their play.

After some mixed results that included defeats at the hands of Lithuania and Belarus - the very team that knocked them out of last year's FIBA World Championship - Russia got a wake-up call in their last game of the Second Round against perhaps the most unlikely opponent, minnows Great Britain.

The Russians trailed 25-10 early in the second quarter of that contest and fought back to win a very physical and gritty affair 62-59.

They started looking like the championship calibre team they are in their 83-72 Quarter-Final win over Latvia.

Russia had the hot-shooting of Elena Danilochkina - the MVP of the tournament - to thank for that win.

She had 18 points in that game and matched that total in the 85-53 Semi-Final romp of the Czech Republic.

Their defeat of Turkey might not have come as a big surprise as they had dispatched Ceyhyn Yildizoglu's team 80-65 in the Preliminary Round.

That game was pretty much over after the Russians raced out to a 29-7 lead.

However the scoreline of Sunday's Final should not be read to reflect a poor showing on the part of Turkey, far from it.

What it does show is that Russia become an unstoppable force once they've gathered a head of steam and that message should figure in the scouting report of the 11 teams they will face at next year's Olympic Games.

FIBA