Norway – Bulgaria 49-91

– We have some work to do, because this is not the best team in the group. They will come in the next two games, Stefan Pettersson determined.

The Norwegian U16 national team have ended up in what is clearly the toughest group from the EC – with Turkey, Bulgaria and host nation Montenegro as opponents.

Then on Thursday night, the other two teams showed class in an intense 60-58 clash to Montenegro.

44 turnovers against the pressure

It’s not uncommon for a Norwegian team to experience a tempo shock and be pushed into a slump early in the EC, and it’s no surprise that the women’s U16s have fallen into the trap against Bulgaria time and time again.

44 turnovers is the result, fastbreak points finish 44-8 and is almost identical to turnover points, 42-8.

Just because Bulgaria won the ball high on the pitch and scored with a simple layup.

– Requires 10-15 games to handle it

– They are not used to playing against that kind of pressure and against so much intensity, said Stefan Pettersson.

– I usually say it takes 10-15 games to handle it, and it’s always like this at the start when building a national team program. The Swedish and Finnish teams that made it deep in the EC had 30-40 tough matches before they got a result, the experienced coach said.

– We just need to let these girls try again and again.

Hit well – and win return stats

Norway started well, leading 7-5 and 8-7 and trailing just 3 points (12-15) towards the end of the first period before Bulgaria started to pick up the pace, tighten their defense and move away.

But there is a bright spot for Norway. The red-clothed player scored 39 per cent on field goals, Bulgaria have no more than 44 despite all the layups the team got.

The Norwegian girls also won the return statistic 49-37, after 9 from Feven Ramse Chol (1.92) and 7 from Lina Blanco, Fanny Dyngeland-Sundén and Anna Linnea Hovig Wikstrøm.

The trio scored 40 of 49 points

Anna Linnea, Lina and Fanny were the three remaining players from last year’s U16 national team playing in the Nordics (EC cancelled), and contributed 40 of Norway’s 49 points in the opening game.

– They have the most experience, that’s how it is. Lina is injured and hasn’t played much, so she couldn’t last more than 22 minutes today. But his stats are by far the best, says Stefan Pettersson.

Striker Ulriken at 1.84 m is the game’s top scorer with 17 points and also has 7 rebounds and 1 assist.

Stefan Pettersson was able to see the positive features.

– When we went through the pressure and played a half-field attack, we had a very good finish, he said.

– Wear work gloves

Norway are in a four-team group and have three days of rest in the preliminaries. The next match is against Montenegro on Saturday, Turkey is the opponent on Tuesday.

– Normally it would be good to get another match straight away, but for us I think it would be good to get some training now.

– It’s just a matter of working on it. Training will be carried out at high intensity starting tomorrow, in work gloves. 44 turnovers is a lot, and we have to train to reduce it even if Montenegro and Turkey are opponents, explained the U16 coach.

Championship star?

FIBA has selected six players to register before the B-EC in Podgorica, two of whom are in the Norwegian group.

Denitsa Manolova of Bulgaria is a “star” in the U18 national team and is averaging 13.3 points and 10.2 rebounds for the team that reached the EC quarter-finals two weeks ago.

Against Norway, he showed his class and finished with 16 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 6 steals in 19 minutes.

On Saturday, the Norwegian girls will meet Jelena Bulajic, who was in Montenegro’s winning team at U20 EC in Skopje in early July. Then he played an average of 14 minutes per game and scored an average of 5.7 points for the team that beat Norway 85-35 and won the final by a landslide, 98-56 over Turkey. Bulajic was born in 2007 and will stay at U20 level for another five seasons.

In Thursday’s opener against Turkey, he had 17 points and 6 rebounds.

Avoid the bottom play-off

Norway are guaranteed a place in the 9-16 play-offs at Podgorica, simply because the three last-placed teams in a five-team group will play for places 17 to 19.

That means three new games next week, initially against opponents who are a LITTLE more manageable than in the group stage.

PS. Bulgaria’s 91-49 win over Norway was only the second biggest win on the opening day of the B-EC. Serbia beat North Macedonia 113-24.

Norway goalscorer: Lina Hønsi Blanco 17, Anna Linnea Hovig Wikstrm 12, Fanny Dyngeland-Sundén 11, Sophia Priestley 4, Ida Johansen 2, Aurora Toyomasu 2, Feven Ramse Choi 1.

Bulgaria’s top scorer: Denitsa Manolova 16.

U16 EC WOMEN, DIV. B. THURSDAY:

Group A:

Bosnia and Herzegovina – Ireland 60-55, Serbia – North Macedonia 113-24.

The group consists of five teams and the Netherlands play their first game against Ireland on Friday.

Group B:

Norway – Bulgaria 49-91, Montenegro – Turkey 60-58.

Group C:

Sweden – Iceland 74-49, Israel – Switzerland 67-55.

The group consists of five teams and Ukraine plays its first game against Israel on Friday.

Group D:

Austria – Luxembourg 67-49, Slovakia – Great Britain 83-47.

The group consists of five teams and Romania plays its first game against Great Britain on Friday.