|
   | | 8 | Pts | 10 | | | 7 | Reb | 12 | | | 0 | Ass | 2 | | | 0 | ST | 0 | | | 0 | BS | 3 | | | 23 | Min | 20 | |
| | |
| 18/57 | FG M/A | 33/85 | | | 15/42
(35.7%)
| FG2P M/A | 21/63
(33.3%)
| | | 3/15
(20.0%)
| FG3P M/A | 12/22
(54.5%)
| | | 19/24
(79.2%)
| FT M/A | 13/18
(72.2%)
| | | 38
(10-28)
| Reb (O-D) | 50
(21-29)
| | | 11 | Ass | 22 | | | 24 | TO | 13 | | | 5 | ST | 15 | | | 1 | BS | 3 | | | 18 | PF | 25 | | | 58 | Pts | 91 |
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| The Czech Republic overcame an early 11-0 deficit to crush Poland 91-58 at the U18 European Championship for Women.
Michaela Stara led a balanced offense with 12 points and Renata Brezinova contributed a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds as last year's fourth-placed team improved to 2-1 in Group E of the qualifying round.
Romana Ptackova credited her players for their resilience in getting back into the game before the first quarter was over.
"We were down early on, but we didn't panic at all - there was no time to panic in fact," she said.
Poland got off to the perfect start, scoring the game's first 11 points thanks to their up-tempo game which seemed to catch their opponents off guard.
But the Czech Republic rallied back and were within one, 24-23, by the end of the first period.
Some patient ball movement and good perimeter shooting by the pair of Karolina Elhotova and Dominika Behalova helped a long way towards getting the Czechs back in the game.
And the Czechs stuck to that winning formula to take a 35-29 lead midway through the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Polish offense was spluttering as each pass they attempted was contested and resulted into a string of turnovers and they owed their five-point half-time deficit, 45-40, only to the Czechs' getting in the penalty.
Poland threatened early in the second half, closing the gap to one 50-49 but the Czech Republic answered in emphatic fashion with a 13-0 run that put them back in front 63-49 at the start of the final period.
Much like it had done in the first half, Poland's zone defense was rotating too slowly and challenging their opponents to beat them from the outside proved to be the bad strategy as the Czechs hit 12 of 22 attempts from three-point range.
"They played a zone defense and we tried to stay aggressive and attack the basket, but it also opened the perimeter for us and our players made the open shots," Ptackova added.
Olivia Tomialowivz had 21 points for Poland who fell to 2-1 in Group E. | | |
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