The Under-18 women’s team that the bronze medal was played this Sunday in the European category, beat Serbia (52-80) in an important game for the Spanish. Cristina Cantero’s men broke the match in the third quarter with a 9-14 run, which left the Serbs very touched, despite the good duel from Marija Avlijas (25 points).
Tough match for the National Team after the defeat against France in the European semifinals. A stumble that meant breaking the streak of eleven finals in a row played by Spain. The Sub-18 was the whole game ahead except for 3-2, closing the first quarter with 15-23. In the second period, Serbia tried to stay in the game, but the great defense of the Spanish allowed them to leave with an eleven-point lead at halftime. It was not a great game for Iyana Martín who would end with 12 goals. The top scorers of the national group were Marina Matawhich ended with 14 goals and 6 of 7 from the field and Inés Sotelo also with 14.
In the second part, the score of 9-14 allowed them to leave up to 16 points. The Serbian team that saw the bronze medal was getting further and further away, under arms in the last quarter and ended up closing a rather weak match with the final score of 52-80. Spain fulfilled its role of best attack of the tournamentand took the fight for the rebounds (38 to 52). A good accuracy in field goals, above 50%to counteract the bad success from the triple with a 3 of 16.
This bronze medal is the third in Spanish basketball this summer after silver in the women’s Eurobasket and gold in the U-19 men’s World Cup. In these last two summers, Spain has added 12 metals among all basketball categories. The next podium chance will be in charge of the U-20 men’s team, which has started on the right foot in the European Championship, which is being held in Greece.