Norway – Romania 67-80

Nothing to say about Romania taking 17th place and getting their first and only win in EC:

The Romanians were as good as few of the Norwegian opponents, being the sixth best scoring team out of 18 in the championship, losing after extra time to finalists Luxembourg and the No. 1 team. , Sweden.

Romania ran and shot Norway to smithereens for most of the game, pulling away at 27-18 after the first period after hitting 5 of 10 3-pointers – 4 of 4 from the long and elegant Ilinca Belegante. He was the game’s leading scorer with 28 points after going 6 of 7 three times, and also grabbed 9 rebounds.

Fifth game in five days

The Norwegian girls saw an opportunity after a strong recovery with an 11-2 start in the third period and 46-47 on a 3-pointer from Fanny Dyngeland-Sundén, but Romania instead responded with a 7-0 run and were never threatened thereafter. .

– It was a better match today than against Denmark yesterday, but fifth game in five days and somehow a bit empty, said Kine Johansen.

– Romania got a lot of fastbreak points on us, we couldn’t bear to keep up.

Even EC, Luxembourg was shocked

At the same time, there is no reason for the Norwegian girl to despair. It was an excellent B-EC, where only five of 61 games ended in plus 30 points for either side – the top three from Croatia: margins of 67, 51 and 42 points against Iceland, Denmark and North Macedonia.

The big and positive surprise was Luxembourg, thanks to the team’s excellent forward Faith Ehi Etute – who, before Sunday’s final against Croatia, was averaging 33.2 points and 23.4 rebounds per game. suitable!

In the final, he was packed to the best of his ability by Croatia – but still had 23 points and 23 rebounds, plus 7 assists and 7 steals!

Croatia was outstanding in the tournament and beat Luxembourg 93-66 in the final after displaying a fast-paced and varied attacking game.

Great show

Norway finished 18th, but had some ups and downs and some bright spots:

• Victory over Great Britain (57-55) who finished 12th in the tournament.
• Lead 71-70 over the Netherlands (No. 9) with 1:30 left, narrowly lost 74-77.
• A long-running draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina, who played in the bronze final on Sunday night, eventually lost by 12 points (49-61).
• Have not lost any game by more than 17 points, 41-58 in their opener against Ireland.
• Is number 3 in steals in team stats for EC with 13.9 per match.

– Join the fight

If we add the last two Nordic matches with the extra time loss to Estonia and the big win over Denmark (78-58), the total is not bad at all.

– We feel we are involved and fighting with everyone, but that requires us to put in 40 minutes in every game against these teams. The girls are not used to playing at this level, but we have played evenly with most of them and haven’t lost much to anyone, explained coach Kine.

In team statistics, Norway is not at the bottom, and stands out as the third best in steals behind Estonia and Ireland, with 13.9 per game. suitable.

Top scoring keeper and three top 10 positions

Player stats are even more fun:

Averaging 20.1 points per game, Aurora Sørbye is the second top scorer overall in EC behind Luxembourg phenom Etute and the top scorer of all 18 team guards.

In addition, the Norwegian captain is number 4 in penalty percentage (79.6) and 7 in steals (3.4) – while Lina Blanco is a strong fourth in rebounding stats, with 10.1 per match.

– Aurora is a player that everyone on her team wants, someone who always works 110 percent and never gives up. He is also very easy to train, says Kine Johansen.

– He played a lot of minutes in all the games (36 in EC), and with Anna (Hovig Wikstrøm) injured, it’s easier for the opponents to scout us. Aurora has been pressed a lot and doubled up and placed in a different situation from back home, but has handled it well.

– Lina’s 10-rebound average is strong, and she was very good against Denmark yesterday when she kept us in the game, said the U18 coach.

The best EC match

Anna Hovig Wikstrøm gave her best European Championship game with 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists against Romania, but the championship was partially destroyed by overstepping in the first game, meaning she had to sit out the next three games.

Aurora Sørbye scored 11 of 13 penalties in Sunday’s match and ended with 79.6 percent strokes (43 of 54), behind Greece’s Lydia Chatira (96.6 percent – 28 of 29!), Denmark’s Freya Brahe Jensen (84 ,4) and Tilda Swedish Trigger (83.9).

Faith Ehi Etute finished with averages of 31.5 points and 23.3 rebounds as an outstanding in both categories. The 1.83m forward is the undisputed MVP of the tournament, while Luxembourg has also got Isa Hamalainen in the Allstar team.

Norway Goalscorers: Aurora Sørbye 27, Anna Linnea Hovig Wikstrøm 11, Sophia Priestley 9, Camilla Wold Wægger 7, Fanny Dyngeland-Sundén 5, Lina Hønsi Blanco 4, Susanne Gjerstad 2, Aurora Grieg Toyomasu 1, Sofia Brokhaug Koch 1.

Romania’s top scorers: Ilinca Belegante 28, Ioana David 11, Bianca Sirbu 11.

B-EC U18 WOMEN SUNDAY MATCHES:

Final: Croatia – Luxembourg 93-66

Bronze Match: Greece – Bosnia and Herzegovina 68-44

5th place: Slovakia – Ireland 68-43

7th place: Iceland – Bulgaria 86-69

9th place: Netherlands – Ukraine 66-64

11th place: Estonia – Great Britain 53-40

13th place: Sweden – Denmark 77-62

15th place: Austria – North Macedonia 81-74

17th place: Romania – Norway 80-67

Croatia and Luxembourg move up on A-EC, Lithuania and Czech Republic move down from A to B.

Portugal, which is ranked 15th out of 16 teams in A, will continue to host the A-EC next year. This is because only two teams have stepped up from division B this season.

Neither team is passed down from B to C.