Latvia take care of business, Belgium back after a decade

MUNICH (FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 Qualifiers) - Latvia were able to take care of business in Riga, whilst Belgium set up a return to the Final Round following a 10-year absence.

Belgium knew victory would be enough to qualify as Group G winners and they duly obliged with a 61-77 victory on the road against Poland.

"It was a very good victory," said Belgium's head coach Philip Mestdagh.

"It is a very big step for women's basketball in Belgium.

"We are a young group and I think we can improve and do even better in the future.

"It's our first EuroBasket in 10 years, so we have to be ambitious."

Ann Wauters top scored with a game-high 16 points along with 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in the valuable win for her side.

Latvia took care of business to advance as the best runners-up with a 77-66 success over Slovenia - who had already assured themselves of a tournament debut next summer.

Also winning to avoid any complications were Hungary in Group E as they recorded a 49-68 win away at Slovak Republic, who still advanced as a best-ranked runner-up. 

Greece endured a bitter-sweet feeling in Kursk as although they suffered a 67-53 loss against Russia, they had still done enough to progress.

Serbia were in a similar position and the reigning EuroBasket Women champions have the chance to defend their title in the Czech Republic despite losing 82-88 at home to Ukraine. 

Another team able to secure qualification on their home floor were Montenegro after they defeated Italy 66-57 in Podgorica.

Jelena Dubljevic netted an impressive 29 points on 10-of-12 shooting as her side were made to wait on other results before being confirmed as one of the best runners-up.

As a result of Belgium's victory, the fate of Belarus - who were not in action - was out of their hands but they would end up taking the last remaining ticket.

Israel, Sweden and Croatia were the three runners-up to miss out on a place at EuroBasket Women 2017.

Other Results:

Group B
France 84-65 Croatia
Netherlands 70-43 Estonia

Group C
Albania 55-97 Great Britain

Group D
Luxembourg 54-94 Germany

Group E
Iceland 65-54 Portugal

Group F
Switzerland 48-72 Bulgaria

Group H
Turkey 64-54 Romania
Bosnia and Herzegovina 62-80 Israel

Group I
Sweden 94-45 Finland

FIBA