Latvian U16 girls basketball team Photo: FIBA
On Tuesday, the Latvian U16 women’s basketball team won the second match of the International Basketball Federation’s (FIBA) “Challenger” tournament. Latvian cadets in the group A game with the result 57:56 (22:16, 11:14, 15:13, 9:13) were won by their peers from Germany.
The winners with 19 points were Jozefīne Sīpoliņa, nine points were scored by Elīna Briede, and eight – by Tīna Grausa. Versatile performance for Alexander Stepanova, who won six rebounds and scored five times. On Monday, the Latvians acknowledged the superiority of their Finnish peers with the result 75:76.
In the FIBA “Challenger” tournament, the girls born in 2005/2006 trained by Andris Steļmahs will compete with the Bulgarian national team on Wednesday at 2.30 pm, on Friday at 5.30 pm – with the Greek team, and on Saturday at 2.30 pm – with the French U16 basketball players. The winners of the first two places in groups A and C will receive tickets to the U17 World Cup in Spain next summer. In group B, one ticket will be won, because there are Spanish cadets outside the competition, who will be able to start in the World Cup as the hosts of the field.
Due to the difficult epidemiological situation, the Board of FIBA Europe canceled the 2021 European Youth Championships. In order to ensure the practice of games, an unofficial competition series is organized – FIBA “Challengers”. In the U16 age group, the 18 best teams in the European ranking table were divided into three top six. Tournaments take place in Helsinki, Cadiz (Spain) and Guifoice (Portugal). The results of the tournament will not affect the countries’ positions in the official FIBA youth team ranking.
Composition of the Latvian national team
Aleksandra Stepanova, Madara Šmite, Elīna Briede, Josephine Sīpoliņa, Daniela Gintere, Amanda Baumgarte, Evija Stirling Coltone, Kate Kondratjeva, Tīna Graus, Jennifer Rieksta, Krista Lukashevica, Evelīna Otto
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