Norway – North Macedonia 57-72

There are ups and downs in tournaments with matches every day, and perhaps a lot of the difference lies in the attitude of the teams:

North Macedonia are coming off a clear loss to Denmark (40-73) on Wednesday and are chasing their first win in EC, Norway from a joyous match against Great Britain (57-55) and may have burned too much powder or gone too high. to the top. – They weren’t focused on leading, it was a bit difficult to calm down after yesterday and we weren’t ready mentally, Kine Johansen said of his players.

The awkward Norwegian team was a spectator of North Macedonia’s overdrive in the first two periods.

Escaped with an 18-0 run

Red and Yellow led 28-6 (!) early in the second half after running 18-0, and then it didn’t help that Norway gradually lifted, “winning” the rest of the game 51-44 and losing by 13 points (37-50) at the end of the third quarter.

It looked as though there might be tension, but the Norwegian defense didn’t manage enough and Macedonia gained another 22 points (61-39) before Norway again took over.

Aurora Sørbye got both point guards Marija Nikolov (no. 12) and 1.82m Milica Nikolikj (no. 11) their fourth offense early in the fourth period, but the Norwegian girls couldn’t capitalize on it – and both key players avoid getting all five offenses.

– Must play tough defense

– We stepped up our defense in the second half, and we MUST play tough defense to be able to keep up with the other teams here, explains Kine Johansen.

Most of the statistics show that Norway should have an even match against North Macedonia.

The Norwegian girls won the rebound stats 47-45 and had 22 offensive rebounds against the Macedonian 9. They only have 13 turnovers against North Macedonia’s 20. They had 78 shots in the game against 61 for red and yellow.

Miss too much

And thus the difference is only in the hit percentage.

Norway had 2 of 18 field goals in the first period and 5 of 20 in the second – 18 percent hitting against North Macedonia’s 47 goals!

Of course also because North Macedonia had controlled the drives and layups and played the hefty Nikolikj free for an easy score right at the basket, but they also hit 4 of 9 3-pointers against Norway’s 1 of 12.

3 point shooting is the biggest difference:

North Macedonia scored 8 out of 20 (40 percent) and Anja Nachevska 4 out of 10, Norway finished 4 out of 28 – which means 14 percent were successful.

Aurora Sørbye was strong in the game, top scorer with 22 points and 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.

Lina Blanco finished with 8 points and 12 rebounds – 7 of which were offensive. Camilla Wold Wægger had 8 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, but the shooting wasn’t her thing either. Actually not for any Norwegian player.

Anna returned to the Netherlands?

The good news is that Anna Hovig Wikstrøm looks to be ready for the game against the Netherlands on Friday.

– He took part in today’s training. Quiet session, but he participated fully and was not in pain, so the plan is for him to play tomorrow, said Kine Johansen.

The Ulriken Rangers, who wreaked havoc with Aurora Sørbye in the Nordic championships, lost their first match against Ireland and have already faced Bosnia-Herzegovina, Great Britain and North Macedonia.

– Now we will have a team meeting, have today’s match and then concentrate on Holland. “Tomorrow we MUST be prepared from the start. It has happened too often that this is not the case,” said the U18 national team coach.

Favorite in the group

The Netherlands beat North Macedonia 64-43 and Denmark 59-48 in the group stage and are big favorites to win group E and play for 9th place in the championship, Ukraine who are 3-0 and have won in the second round 9 – 18 group.

At the same time, the Netherlands did not win more than 59-48 over Denmark, beating the Norwegians by 20 points (78-58) in the Nordics.

Norway Goalscorers: Aurora Sørbye 22, Lina Hønsi Blanco 8, Camilla Wold Wægger 8, Aurora Toyomasu 7, Helena Eckhoff-Eliassen 6, Sophia Priestley 4, Sofia Brokhaug Koch 2.

North Macedonia top scorers: Anja Nachevska 20, Marija Nikolov 15, Milica Nikolikj 14.

LAST MATCH 9-18

Both teams have taken points and scores from each other in the group stage, where Norway beat Great Britain 57-55.

Group E: Great Britain – Denmark 58-51, Norway – North Macedonia 57-72.

Standings (win-lose): Netherlands 2-0, Denmark 1-2, Great Britain 1-1, Norway 1-1, North Macedonia 1-2.

Matches on Friday: Norway – Netherlands (12.00), Great Britain – North Macedonia (14.30).

Group F: Sweden – Romania 78-65, Ukraine – Austria 59-48.

Position: Ukraine 3-0, Estonia 1-1, Austria 1-1, Sweden 1-2, Romania 0-2.

Matches on Friday: Estonia – Romania (17.00), Sweden – Austria (19.30).

Quarter-finals (1-8) Friday:

Croatia – Ireland (12.00), Bosnia and Herzegovina – Iceland (14.30), Bulgaria – Greece (17.00), Luxembourg – Slovakia (19.30).