A bitter start at the European Basketball Championship: the Lithuanian girls’ national team lost to the Finns
Rusnė Augustinaitė scored the first point in this match with a long shot, and after 4 minutes of play, the Lithuanians led 12:3. rivals from Finland did not get upset and won a section of a few minutes 8:0, reducing the deficit to a minimum (11:12).
Ugnė Sirtautaitė ended the streak of Lithuanian basketball points with a shot from under the basket, and after the first quarter the Lithuanian girls led 16:13.
At the beginning of the second half, there was an even fight, but in the middle of the half, they organized several successful attacks and broke out to further 27:23. 16 min. team leader Justė Jocytė nailed a three-pointer and the Finnish lead was reduced to 2 points (30:28). However, the Lithuanians failed to take the initiative, and after two periods, the Finnish basketball players were ahead 35:30.
The tough fight continued in the third quarter. The basketball players exchanged effective attacks, but the Finnish national team kept a small lead. J. Jocytė, who organized a successful raid in the last seconds, reduced the Lithuanian deficit to 2 points (48:50).
In the fourth quarter, the Lithuanians were still forced to chase the Finns, and at halftime the teams were divided by the same 2 points (56:58).
37 minutes J. Jocytė equalized well with an accurate free throw (59:59), but the rivals responded with a 5-point volley and led 64:59 in the remaining minute.
In the last minutes of the match, the Lithuanian basketball players tried to save themselves by fouling, but the rivals did not share gifts and won 71:60.
Ugnė Sirtautaitė scored 18 points, Gerda Raulušaitytė scored 16, J. Jocytė added 14. The 16-year-old basketball player also had 7 goals and 6 assists.
Lithuanians playing in group C on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. will meet Sweden, and will finish the group stage on Monday at 4:45 p.m. in the upcoming match against Hungary.
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