France take gold as Czech Republic survive overtime to relegate Israel

SOPRON (FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship 2016) - France claimed glorious gold in a dominant Final performance, while Russia beat Latvia for bronze and Israel suffered a cruel relegation, losing in overtime to Czech Republic.

MVP Alexia Chartereau saved the best for last with a fantastic double-double to lead France to gold in a dominant performance in the Final against Spain. It breaks a run of three successive silver medals as France climbed to the top step of the podium for the first time since 2012.

Spain fought bravely to recover from a 13-point half-time deficit, but France rallied and pulled away in a brilliant fourth-quarter performance, with Chartereau’s 19 points and 12 rebounds ably supported by Tima Pouye’s 12 points, 8 boards and 7 assists.

Raisa Musina’s huge double-double inspired Russia to repeat last year’s bronze medal with a tense victory over Latvia, who battled courageously in their bid for a first-ever medal at this level.

Reka Lelik scored 19 points to lead Hungary to victory over Belgium, securing fifth place here and qualification for the FIBA U19 Women’s World Championship 2017.

In the most dramatic game of the day, Patricia Gallasova scored a pair of clutch free throws to send Czech Republic’s relegation decider with Israel to overtime, and she repeated the dose in the extra period to secure a nerve-wracking win for the Czech team.

Israel will go down to Division B for 2017, joining Netherlands and Slovak Republic, who won on the last day to keep the Dutch winless for the tournament. There were also classification wins for Italy, Lithuania and Serbia.

For more on all of today's action, you can also go to the #FIBAU18Europe Live Feed.

Sunday’s results
Final
France beat Spain 74-44

Third Place
Russia beat Latvia 65-58

Classification 5-8
Hungary beat Belgium 64-54
Italy beat Turkey 57-34

Classification 9-12
Lithuania beat Slovenia 82-63
Serbia beat Croatia 85-43

Classification 13-16
Czech Republic beat Israel 87-84
Slovak Republic beat Netherlands 73-68

FIBA