France Remain Unbeaten


France became the first team to book a spot in the quarter-final round after a 65-73 win against Lithuania at the Umcor European Championship U18 Women in Tenerife on Sunday.

Despite the loss, Lithuania also advance to the next round.

In an up-and-down contest, France were never really troubled by Lithuania, but coach Francois Gomez will have been concerned by his side's inability to kill off the game.

France threatened to blow Lithuania out of the game in a remarkable first quarter. Lithuania suffered a nightmare start, hitting just 2/18 field goals for 4 first quarter points.

Lithuania trailed 4-22 after 10 minutes and France were totally dominant.

However, leading 4-29, the French suffered a major lapse in concentration on the defensive end. Lithuania suddenly found huge gaps everywhere on the court and reeled of a 23-6 run to come right back into contention, 27-35.

It was only six straight points by the French to end the quarter which saw them re-establish control, 27-41.

The pattern of the game repeated itself in the second half.

France led by as many as 13 points, but Lithuania kept coming back, cutting the deficit to as little as three.

But whenever Lithuania  got close, France produced a scoring spurt to protect the lead and were never in any serious trouble.


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