After the short Olympic break, the Eurobasket Women qualifiers resumed on Saturday night and it saw the first teams advance to next year’s finals in the Czech Republic with one of those nations being debutants Slovenia, who came out of the shadow of their more successful men’s side and stepped in front to book their spot for next summer.
Group A
Slovenia made it three wins out of three by comfortably routing Lithuania 75-54 in Celje to advance to the Eurobasket Women finals.
Sandra Pirsic posted a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds with Maja Erkic top-scoring with 16 points for a third win in Group A.
Group B
France booked their spot in next year’s finals as they held the Netherlands to just 11 points in the first half en route to an easy 79-46 victory.
The other game in the group saw Croatia dispose of Estonia 86-45 as they exposed out of the gate, leading 23-9 after the first period and never looking back.
Nina Premasunac paced the winners with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Group C
Italy qualified for next year’s finals and killed off Great Britain’s hopes of a fifth straight appearance as the Azzure secured a 71-52 win.
Laura Macchi hit 23 points for the winners in her 100th game.
The other game saw Montenegro ease past minnows Albania 114-56 in Tirana. Jelena Dubljevic posted a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Montenegrins.
Group D
Olympic bronze medallists and reigning Eurobasket Women holders Serbia were given the shock of their lives by lowly Luxembourg before eventually coming away with a 73-51 win.
The Serbs trailed 23-21 after the first quarter but while the Luxembourg resistance would eventually wear off, it still posed the question of how prepared the champions were? Still they regrouped and came away unscathed.
Ukraine advanced to next year’s finals as they beat Germany 85-61 in Odessa to go 5-0. After a closely fought first quarter, the hosts pulled away in the second with a 24-9 burst to pull away.
Group E
Slovak Republic raced to a 26-6 lead over Iceland and were never troubled on their way to an 86-40 win in Pieštany.
Hungary were also rarely troubled by Portugal as Zsofia Fegyverneky’s 12 points and nine rebounds them to a comfortable 68-44 win in Lecs.
Group F
Russia advanced to next year’s Eurobasket Women as they beat Switzerland 65-56 in Kursk to improve to 5-0 in the group.
A strong first half saw the Russians take a 34-18 lead and it proved to be enough despite a strong outing in the second half by the Swiss.
Greece overcame Bulgaria 95-67 in Group F’s second contest.
Group G
Belgium stunned Belarus with a surprise 67-61 victory in Namur as any hopes of washing away a poor Rio 2016 showing were quickly extinguished.
Kim Mestdagh paced Belgium with 17 points to leave Group G fairly open with second placed Belgium with one loss and Belarus on two losses.
Group H
Turkey qualified for the finals in the Czech Republic after they edged Bosnia & Herzegovina after a session of overtime 72-68 in Ankara.
And Israel secured a big win on the road as they were 62-51 winners over Romania in Cluj.
Group I
Olympic silver medallists Spain secured their expected place into Eurobasket Women 2017 as they cruised past Finland 72-54 in Helsinki.
The Finns though enjoyed a 21-16 lead after the first quarter as the Spaniards failed to cover their tracks defensively. However, the visitors held Finland to just eight points in the second as they reclaimed the lead and never looked back.
