Greece earn promotion at U18 Women’s European Championship
FIBA U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - DIVISION B (FINAL)
In Skopje, the under 18 Greek women’s national team enjoyed a thoroughly successful tournament at the 2019 FIBA Division B U18 Women’s European Championship, earning promotion to the top tier.
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On Sunday evening, Greece W18 conceded a narrow 56-63 defeat to Finland in the final, but despite missing out on the gold medal, the girls still had promotion to celebrate after defeating Turkey in a hugely dramatic semi-final on Saturday.
Six minutes before the final buzzer, the Greeks found themselves trailing by 10 points to the Turks, but they launched a memorable comeback to snatch victory (58-56) in the dying seconds. A win which guaranteed promotion regardless of the outcome against the Finns on Sunday.
Greece, coached by Ioannis Gereoudakis, had defeated the Netherlands 65-53 in the quarter-final stage.
The promotion charge had gathered pace in the group phase. In Group C, Greece earned five victories in five games, beating Romania (61-53), Ireland (51-40), Slovakia (73-38), Austria (68-48) and the competition hosts (48-38). The defeat in the final to Finland was the only Greek loss at the tournament.
Finland, Greece and Turkey are all promoted to the first division.
Ioanna Krimili, 17, was one of the standout performers for Greece as she averaged 15.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in the competition. Krimili tallied 24 points in the final against Finland and scored the winner to beat the Turks in the semi-final.
Ioanna Chatzileonti also caught the eye with an average of 11.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
