Four teams now remain after the quarter-finals of Eurobasket Women in Budapest concluded tonight.
France and Spain will lock horns in a re-match of the Eurobasket Women 2013 gold medal game after the two sides came through their respective quarter-final match ups.
Holders Spain edged Montenegro 75-74 in what was a physical battle that almost ended in an upset.
Heading down the stretch, Milica Jovanovic hit a massive triple to put her team in front, but Anna Cruz then replied with a magnificent three-point play.
That gave Montenegro the ball and the chance to claim a famous victory and cause one of the biggest surprises in tournament history. But, Angelica Robinson couldn’t get her shot to drop and as Aleksandra Vujovic went for the last gasp victory after getting the rebound, Alba Torrens blocked her shot to hand Spain victory.
Torrens ended with 28 points for the winners
France though have a chance at revenge for their 2013 loss as they came through their quarter-final with a 77-74 win over Russia.
Birthday girl Sandrine Gruda gave herself a cause for double celebration after a stellar 23 points for the French as they kept their dreams of a place at the Rio Olympics alive.
Belarus booked their spot in the last four but had to survive an onslaught by Lithuania to eventually come out 68-66 victors.
The Belorussians were already leading by seven when they posted ten unanswered points midway through the second quarter.
That gave them enough of a cushion to only just fend off the inevitable fight back by comeback queens Lithuania – although Belarus almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when Katsiaryna Snytsina inexplicably passed the inbounds pass to no one with just over a second to play.
Lithuania were unable to capitalise.
Anastasiya Verameyenka had a near double-double of 15 points and nine rebounds for Belarus.
Belarus will play Serbia in the semi-finals as they overcame Turkey 75-63, in what was the largest margin of victory in the four last eight games played.
Serbia posted a game-breaking 14-2 run in the decisive third quarter, which built a handy double-digit lead for when they had a brief wobble at the start of the fourth.
Ana Dabovic came to the party and exploded for 31 points for Serbia reached the semi-finals for the second time in two years.
