Day 3 focus: The battles for second spot in Groups A & B; can Serbia survive?

PRAGUE / HRADEC KRALOVE (FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017) - The last day of Group Phase action will see the elimination of two further teams confirmed - with defending champions Serbia in danger of being one of those.

The equation for Serbia is simple, but far from easy: Victory by six points or more over Slovenia will guarantee a spot in the Qualification For Quarter-Finals for the gold-medal winners from FIBA EuroBasket Women 2015.

A smaller margin of victory would leave Serbia requiring Greece to beat France later in the day, or their reign will end early.

In Hradec Kralove, Belarus and hosts Czech Republic became the first teams to be eliminated on Saturday, with Turkey and Spain guaranteeing top spot in their groups and advancing directly to the Quarter-Finals.

Hungary will take on Ukraine to decide second place in Group A, before Slovak Republic meet Italy in the evening for the same in Group B. The winner of each game will face the loser of the other in the Qualification for Quarter-Finals games on Tuesday.

Also look out for:

Will Belgium make it three wins out of three and secure top spot in Group D when they play Latvia? A Latvian victory, on the other hand, would mean that Montenegro could eliminate Russia! If Belgium win though, Montenegro would need to win by 17 points or more. France looked like they were finding their form in the second half against Serbia - can they keep it going against Greece? Turkey’s match against Belarus and Spain’s game against the hosts won’t affect the standings - how will the coaches balance momentum and march sharpness against the temptation to preserve players for the bigger matches later in the tournament? [/unordered]

FIBA