Victory in the end for women U18

Posted On: August 7, 2022

Written by Arild Sandven
•August 7, 2022

Norway were the better class than North Macedonia, showing it in the third period and winning by elimination points 78-49. Thus they are number 17 and avoid the last place in the B-EC in Sofia.

U18 Women Norway – North Macedonia 78-49

U18 Men Norway – Slovakia 49-78

Oddly enough, the U18 boys’ fight for 17th place ended a few hours later with the exact same numbers, but not in Norway’s favour.

Nevertheless, the boys could come home from Romania having won three games, while the girls picked up their first win on Sunday in neighboring Bulgaria after six straight defeats. Three of them are very tight – with 5, 5 and 4 points respectively against Iceland, Denmark and Austria, the first after extra time.

– There is some tension in today’s match, because the girls want to show what they can do. And there was an expectation that we would win, said Tommy Gundersen.

– We will finally settle it with a good deal and good collective play.

Appointed with Klett

Again it was a miserable start, with 1-7 after 5 minutes against North Macedonia who have not come close to winning any game in EC.

Attacks intensified when Celine Klett came on, but Norway were still trailing 9-11 after half-time and 11-16 early in the second.

Then guard Ulriken made a three-pointer and as soon as he stole, was fouled unsportsmanlike and took one of the penalties: 15-16.

It was also the last time North Macedonia took the lead. Camilla Gjerstad scored 17-16 for Norway after the counter-attack, Aurora Sørbye 19-16 on the return attack after.

Moved by running 18-3

Macedonia trailed 31-26 to Norway’s lead early in the third half, but then the whites led by Aurora Srbye and well assisted by Lea Heiene Tveteraas qualified.

Sørbye opened the scoring with a fine score to 33-26, a shot on to the pitch and an assist for the three points from Lea Heiene Tveteraas (36-28) – who quickly stole a goal and scored 38-28 for Norway. Then Aurora Sørbye made a three-pointer from a corner and a long two-pointer (barely hitting the three-point line), before Lara Gianni hit two three-pointers: 49-29 and KO Norway 18-3 in 5 minutes.

A strong third period ended 30-11, and then the race for North Macedonia ended.

Søbye top scorer again

The trio of Aurora Sørbye, Celine Klett and Lara Gianni thrived together again: In just 4:50 with all three on the field, Norway won 14-1, in the second and third half.

Sørbye is the team’s top scorer for the fourth time in EC and the team’s most effective player with 15 points and 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block in just under 23 minutes.

Klett had 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Both Ulriken guards scored +26 for Norway.

Double-double for Gjerstad

But in the last game many contributed to the big win.

Camilla Gjerstad fought back as usual and ended up with a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Tiril Løtvedt Frogner had his best game in the championship with 8 points and 8 rebounds in just 14 minutes of playing time.

Relieved

– Team win, says Tommy Gundersen.

And of course it was a great relief for the girls of Norway U18s, who were finally able to celebrate the win.

– We are disappointed with the result here, but when things sink in, we have to remember that we have played a good game and have had a great development since the Nordics, for all the players, stressed the national team coach.

Norway Goalscorer: Aurora Sørbye 15, Camilla Gjerstad 12, Celine Klett 10, Lara Gianni 9, Tiril Løtvedt Frogner 8, Ingeborg Nitter Gruber 8, Selma Deisz 6, Lea Heiene Tveteraas 5, Susanne Gjerstad 3, Sunniva Vik Pettersen 2.

North Macedonia’s top scorer: Mihaela Alexovska 15.

Can’t beat Slovakia

The U18 men’s national team exited the EC with three wins and four defeats, and finished 18th after Sunday’s 49-78 against Slovakia.

His opponents were only a small class better than Norway, who struggled mostly in attack, but also in defense against fast Slovakia and the team’s “stars”, 11-year-old Sebastian Rancik (class 2.04 and 2005) and 9- Timotej Malovec (2, 02) years.

Slovakia stormed 12-0 and Norway looked completely unprepared for a formidable opponent.

The Norwegian boys picked themselves up, did a lot of good especially in the second half (which they won 21-19) and went into the break just 5 points behind, 30-35.

Then again unraveled at the start of the third period and Slovakia won the last two periods by 22-7 and 21-12.

Sebastian Rancik was the big man of the match with 30 points and did almost as he likes against the Norwegian defence.

None: leader, depth, and middle

– We sometimes show that we can play evenly with them, but we can’t let one player score 30 points. However, it is in this attack that we struggle the most. We don’t have a “floor leader”, some great depths and centers, says Kjetil Andresen.

– We’ve played a good game here and see that the other four Nordic countries are at their best. Our feeling should be getting to that level, maybe in the U20s, because this year’s Nordics and European Championships are the first national team experiences for these guys.

– But it also depends on how they train further when they come home, explained the U18s coach.

Norway goalscorer: Christopher Dalland 12, Benjamin Fisher Andersen 10, Oliver Bergstad 9, Aksel Borg 7, Herman Ingstad 4, Niklas Sandström 3, Eldar Alagic 2, Chieme Okeke-Nwakamma 2.

Slovakia’s top scorer: Sebastian Rancik 30.

U18 EC WOMEN, DIV. B WEEK:

Final: Slovenia – Portugal 59-44

Bronze match: Serbia – Slovakia 62-50

Suitable Placement:

5th place: Croatia – Netherlands 82-49

7th place: Romania – Bulgaria 72-65

9th place: Ireland – Luxembourg 70-66

11th place: United Kingdom – Iceland 71-69

13th place: Estonia – Austria 78-64

15th place: Ukraine – Denmark 70-38

17th place: Norway – North Macedonia 78-49