The team led by Aurimas Andrušaitis couldn’t hold their own against their Romanian peers in the quarterfinals of the tournament 66:77 (17:23, 11:21, 23:17, 15:16) and thus buried their hopes of moving up to the A division this year.
Only a prize place would have allowed us to return to the group of the best teams of the Old Continent. The tournament will end with our team fighting for the 5th-8th positions. Friday at 4:30 p.m. a duel with the Austrian national team awaits. As usual, the match will be broadcast live on the FIBA YouTube channel.
At the very beginning of the quarterfinals, the Romanians sent the Lithuanians to an easy knockdown (9:0). Mūsiškės woke up then, but after the first ten minutes they still had to chase their opponents 17:23. Soon, they managed to get closer within one shot (21:23), but the opponents pushed forward and Lithuania’s deficit quickly became double digits (25:36). Before the break, it was clear that the second half of the match was going to be difficult – 28:44.
At the beginning of the third quarter, it didn’t look like things could change for the better – the deficit grew a little more (39:58). However, they managed to end the quarter with a 12-3 run, which revived their hopes of returning to the fight for victory before the decisive quarter – 51:61. In the next 5 minutes, the Lithuanians got even closer to their opponents (63:67). Unfortunately, this was followed by a quick 9:1 run by the Romanians, marked by a shot from almost half the court and putting the Lithuanian team in a critical position (64:76). In the end, it was not possible to eliminate the double-digit deficit again, and the advantage of the Romanian national team had to be recognized.
Gabija Galvanauskaitė’s regular double double – 17 points, 11 rebounds and 16 utility points – did not save the Lithuanian national team from a painful defeat.
Lithuania: Gabija Galvanauskaitė 17, Viltė Peleckytė 10, Ugnė Viščinytė and Justė Mockevičiūtė 9 each, Gytė Pupelytė 8.
Romania: Ioana-Vanessa Velcea 29, Carina-Ana Danciulescu 16, Blanca-Ioana Valea 8, Alexia-Ioana Marcus 7, Daria Ilies 6.
2024-08-23 09:13:37