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Female Basketball Italy won 76-74 (after an extra time) in the quarter-finals of the European Championships, played in Athens, and qualified for the semifinals for the first time in thirty years. With this prestigious victory, Italy has also obtained access to the pre-qualification tournament for the 2026 World Cup.
The game was well played by Italy, which confirmed recent progress, and balanced from the beginning, with an unpredictable and excited ending: the two teams have almost never been able to take a decisive advantage. Turkey tried in the third quarter, going ahead of 9 points, but Italy immediately increased the defensive intensity and improved the movement of the ball in attack, going in a short time ahead thanks to a partial of 10-0. At the beginning of the fourth quarter Turkey returned to the lead, but was reached again and overcome by Italy, which remained in front until the last minute.
Two banal lost balls, one to 37 seconds from the end, and another even more sensational 5 seconds from the end, on a lateral remittance in favor of Italy, however allowed Turkey to equalize on 68-68: he did it at the last second with a basket of Sevgi Uzun, who then brought the game to additional time. For the first two and a half minutes of the extra, he did not scour any of the two teams. Then the game unlocked again: for Italy he scored three very important baskets Lorela Cubaj, and then Zandalasini, the strongest Italian player, did the decisive one at 16 seconds from the end.
It was generally a great team test of Italy: 9 players scored at least one basket, and the points were quite distributed. Lorela Cubaj made 16 points, Cecilia Zandalasini 14, Jasmine Keys and Costanza Verona 12 each, Olbis Futo Andrè 8. Italy had won all three games of the group, against Serbia, Slovenia and Lithuania, while on Friday in the semifinal it will face the winner of Belgium-Germany (who play on Wednesday).
– Read also: The women’s basketball national team is no longer just Cecilia Zandalasini
