Following an opening day of upsets, the EuroBasket Women group stages in Ljubljana and Tel Aviv came out as expected.
Well, just about.
Spain, Belgium and France have – as expected – advanced to the quarter-finals with surprise package Hungary joining them as well having beat holders Serbia 81-75 in the final game and dropping them into the classification rounds for the last eight.
Virag Kiss had arguably her best ever game for the national team. The forward was exceptional with a double-double of 21 points and 11 boards as the Hungarians finished on top Group D.
Alongside the Serbians are Slovakia as they comfortably saw-off Turkey 80-66 and dump them out in the process.
Pre-tournament favourites Spain suffered an early day blip against Latvia but bounced back to beat Montenegro and finally Greece 76-60 to top Group A.
Despite the loss on game-day three, Greece still have hope in the competition as they move to the classification rounds alongside Montenegro who beat Latvia 61-58 thanks to a monster 22 points and 20 rebounds from Natasha Mack.
Latvia might have put out a statement on the opening day with a 67-63 win over Spain, but it was short-lived as they finish bottom with a 1-2 record and are eliminated.
Group C was the first pool decided as France had advanced, with Germany and Great Britain going to the classification rounds at the expense of co-hosts Slovenia going into the final game day.
Germany pipped GB into second place with a narrow 62-61 win as Leonie Fiebich stood out with 13 points for the winners, but they had to survive two potential game-winning opportunities from Holly Winterburn and Temi Fagbenle, which both missed their mark.
France finished unbeaten in pool play with a narrow 73-68 win over Slovenia.
And France’s record was matched by Belgium, who head to the quarter-finals as unquestionably the form team with three convincing victories in Group B.
After dishing out a tournament-record 37 assists in their opening day 108-59 with over co-hosts Israel, they eased past both Czech Republic and a strong Italy side to reach the last eight.
Despite falling to the Belgians, the Czechs and Italians will head to the classification rounds with Israel joining their fellow hosts on 0-3 records.
Classification round
Germany vs Slovakia – winner faces Spain in quarter-final
Czech Republic vs Greece – winner faces Hungary
Serbia vs Great Britain – winner faces Belgium
Montenegro vs Italy – winner faces France
