Slovakia Win Thriller With Lithuania

Center Anna Jurcenkova had nine points and eight rebounds for the Slovak Republic

Hosts Slovak Republic survived late drama in Poprad to take a significant step towards qualification for EuroBasket Women next summer, after edging a nail-biting contest with their main Group C challengers, Lithuania, 60-58

While Ivan Vojtko and his players can be satisfied with inflicting a vital 60-58 loss on their opponent, it was a particularly nervous finale for all involved and not least for second placed Slovenia - this result is arguably the worst possible outcome for the other team with hopes of advancing.

The home side made a terrific start to the game, racing out into an early 15-7 advantage although the visitors narrowed the deficit to just four points heading to the locker rooms at the interval.

When Ivana Jalcova capitalised on a sluggish start to the second half by Lithuania and handed Slovakia a 44-27 lead, a comeback looked wholly unlikely but Algirdas Paulauskas changed up the defence and it caused a fascinating last quarter.

Lithuania held Slovakia to just eight points in the last period to produce an unlikely comeback led by Ginatre Petronyte who was too hot to handle under the hoop at times and found herself on the line an eye-popping 17 times.

The visitors could have even forced overtime but Sandra Linkeviciene missed the pivotal shot in the last seconds before Gabriela Kubatova grabbed the all-important defensive rebound.

Quotes Slovak Republic vs. Lithuania

Lithuania head coach Algridas Paulauskas:
"Today we played very bad. We were in the position of the visiting team and in such a position we had to fight for victory. The Slovak team stretched their advantage to 17 points, even though we tried we couldn't win. Maybe the fortune smiled on the Slovak team."

Lithuania player Gintare Petronyte:
"It was a very tough game. It's our fault that we played bad for three quarters, we just returned back to the game in the fourth quarter. Exactly this was the problem."

Slovakia head coach Ivan Vojtko:
"I have to say we were definitively the better team today, but I must say to the girls in the dressing room that if you are better in a game you should keep the advantage at minimum 10-15 points. If we had lost this game I would have felt bad about it, because we didn't deserve to lose today."

Slovakia player Ivana Jalcova:
"I think we spoiled it ourselves, because were up by 17 points and by our own mistakes our opponents nearly reached us. We must avoid this in the next games. Maybe we needed two or three baskets and they would have slowed down. We must learn this, but thank God and our fans we won."