Source: eurobasketwomen2009.com
Defending champions Russia survived a tough fight from Lithuania in taking first place in Group C with a 60-52 victory to enter the Qualifying Round with a perfect record.
Valeriy Tikhonenko's Russians held Lithuania scoreless for more than five minutes in the fourth quarter in improving to 3-0 as Olga Arteshina led the way with 16 points and Marina Kuzina had 11 points - both players coming off the bench.
"It was a very difficult game as everyone saw. The opponents played very well and did a great job. Our friendly before the tournament was exactly the same scenario," said the coach, whose team battled with Lithuania for three quarters before winning 72-62 in the final warm-up.
"We didn't show all our strength. But what we showed today was our character and desire to win games."
Maria Stepanova added 12 points and six rebounds for the winners.
Lithuania were paced by 17 points and nine rebounds from Gintare Petronyte and Daina Staugaitiene had 10 points.
Egle Stakneviciene came into the game averaging a tournament-high 24.5 points but had just eight.
"I think they deserved this win. They played better in the last quarter and made the big plays," said Lithuanian boss Rutenis Paulauskas.
This showdown had all the tension of a late round game, and both teams worked extremely hard on defense.
On the Russians' first possession, the Lithuanians twice consecutively created jump ball situations, and Petronyte's two foul shots opened the scoring at the 8:34 mark. The Lithuanians however could not buy a basket, missing their first 15 shots from the field.
Good for Paulauskas's team was that Russia were struggling offensively until Arteshina twice used her size advantage in scoring over Ausra Bimbaite for an 11-4 advantage.
Petronyte knocked down a hook shot with 1:23 left in the first quarter for Lithuania's first basket of the game. Agne Ciudariene connected on Lithuania's very next shot and Russia led just 13-8 after one period.
Rima Valentiene opened the second quarter with a long ball to spark an 11-0 run, which included two Ciudariene jumpers in helping Lithuania to a 19-13 lead.
After six failed possessions, Kuzina finally got the Russians on the board with a three-pointer with 5:40 left in the half.
Stepanova would knot the game at 19-19 with a jumper only to see Petronyte bank in a three-pointer. The 20-year-old talent would hit another from long range the next time down for a 25-19 Lithuania advantage, which was cut to 27-23 at the break.
Arteshina took it upon herself that Russia would take back control of the game, hitting two three-pointers from the left corner and putting back two offensive rebounds in the first four possessions of the second half. She added an assist on Ilona Korstin's jumper and Svetlana Abrosimova's break-away lay-up finished a 16-3 spurt for a 39-30 Russia lead.
"I felt in the second half we had a different approach, to make more simple plays. And Olga Arteshina was huge for us early in the second half," said Abrosimova.
With the feeling of a true heavyweight fight, Petronyte and Stakneviciene sandwiched three-point plays around Sandra Valuzyte's triple. And Staugatiene's layup pushed the Lithuanians back ahead 42-41 to finish the 12-2 answering run.
The lead changed hands four more times with Lithuania leading 46-45 after three periods.
After hitting 5 of 9 threes through 30 minutes, Lithuania lost their aim, missing five straight from long range and Kuzina's three-ball opened a 55-46 lead.
Staugaitiene finally hit Lithuania's first basket - a three pointer with 4:40 to play. But Korstin scored a close range basket to a 58-49 lead with two minutes left and the margin was too much.
