Lithuania hoping thorough prep yields positive results in Matosinhos
KAUNAS (FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship 2017) - After getting to see her players in action in a friendly tournament in China, coach Jurgita Streimikyte-Virbickiene announced Lithuania's squad.
KAUNAS (FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship 2017) - After getting to see her players in action in a friendly tournament in China, Lithuania boss Jurgita Streimikyte-Virbickiene announced a 14-player squad for the FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship 2017.
Lithuania 14-player preliminary squad for FIBA U20 Women's European Championship
| Kamile Berenyte | Agne Bobinaite | Brigita Gudelionyte | Laurita Jurciute | Laura Juskaite |
| Rasa Knyzaite | Gabija Meskonyte | Grete Patumsyte | Martyna Petrenaite | Urte Slavickaite |
| Goda Vasurenkaite | Karolina Visockaite | Helma Vysniauskaite | Deimante Zukaite |
Having started preparations for the summer tournament earlier than usual, Lithuania are hoping to reap benefits of their extra efforts down the road in Matosinhos in July.
"There is still plenty of work to be done," said Streimikyte-Virbickiene after returning from China. "We will need to fill plenty of cracks, but we've made progress in all nine games we played there."
The Lithuanian squad first gathered more than a month ago before heading out to Asia, where they faced off against the national teams of USA, Canada and the hosts China.
Streimikyte-Virbickiene's side only registered a single win in nine games, but showed signs of promising play, especially from the trio of Gabija Juskaite, Laurita Jurciute and Martyna Petrenaite.
"Playing 9 games in 11 days is a tough schedule to handle. We are happy to return without any major injuries. Results weren't our primary concern at this stage, we wanted to see how we looked without two important players," the playcaller noted.
After getting a couple of weeks off, the Lithuanian players will resume training on May 5 in Anyksciai, with Gabija Meskonyte and Rasa Knyzaite joining the other 12 players who traveled to China.
Led by Gabija Juskaite, Lithuania finished second in the FIBA U20 Women's European Championship 2016 Division B in Montenegro last year, earning promotion back to Division A.
Having returned among the strongest teams, the Baltic side have been drawn to Group B for the FIBA U20 Women's European Championship 2017 in Matosinhos, putting them up against two of the tournament favorites in Italy and Latvia, as well as hosts Portugal.
FIBA