The Greek women’s team finished fourth in the 2017 Eurobasket in the Czech Republic as it lost to France 77-55 in Saturday’s semifinal and 78-45 to Belgium in the third-place game on Sunday in Prague. Greece ended up fourth for the first time ever and made it to next summer’s World Championship in Spain.
Kostas Keramidas’s players made an enthusiastic effort to clinch third place in the basketball playoffs but were not able to prevail.
A three-pointer from Julie Vanloo set the scene. The Belgians let the Greeks come at them, but a strong personal performance from Ann Wauters turned things around and saw 10 points being scored in the first quarter. In the second quarter too, the Belgian Cats proved superior. Both in attack and in defence everyone was at their best.
The Greek team hardly had a single ball near the basket, while the Belgian machine kept running with deadly efficiency. By the last quarter, the Belgians’ lead was so comfortable that the team coach substituted a number of key players, all of whom were given a big round of applause. The match ended 78-45 in Belgium’s favour.
Greeks end the 2017 Eurobasket competition without a medal but are still in the top five. The team will go to the 2018 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, the 18th edition of FIBA’s premier international tournament for women’s national basketball teams, which will be held in Spain from September 22 to 30, 2018.
Sancho Lyttle scored 19 points and Alba Torrens added 18 to help Spain win the EuroBasket tournament on Sunday with a 71-55 victory over France.
The Spaniards were already assured a spot in the FIBA women’s basketball world cup next year as the host city. The top five teams from the EuroBasket advance to the world cup, but since Spain already had qualified the sixth-place team also earned a spot in the 2018 tournament.
Turkey topped Latvia 72-63 for the final two spots. It will be the first time that Latvia will ever compete in the world cup. Latvia reached the fifth-place game with a wild one-point win over Italy in the consolation semifinals.