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The Russians improve their form with each round

The Lithuanians didn't disappoint in the first round, but their soft defensive game can hardly work against the physically dominant Russian players

Considering that they came to the European junior championship without their best player, the Lithuanians can be very satisfied with how they played the first round. They got through to the second phase, but their worries are not over yet because of the system of the competition. Defeating the Greeks was enough to go through, and they looked pretty well against the obviously overestimated Belgians.

Belgium had the initiative in the first period, and didn't manage to turn it into a big advantage. The same story in the second period. Belgian players would create a few points advantage, then the opponents would catch up, and Lithuania had a small advantage at the half-time. Only by the end of the third period did Belgium got a bigger advantage, by 8 points.

Soon, the Lithuanians were 13 points behind. By the middle of the last quarter, they were losing 46-56, and then made a 9-0 series that brought them back to life. Still, the Baltic team scored only 2 more points in the last three minutes, and lost the points for the match despite a big number of mistakes the Belgian players made.

The Lithuanians looked best in the three pointers again (7/19), while they lost the rebound battle, even though they were physically more dominant compared to the Belgians. They only had 6 assists and had 20 turnovers. Their game is based on three players. Wing center Laura Juskaite played all 40 minutes, scored 23 points, the back Agne Cerneckyte scored 12 points in 36 minutes, and the center Daugile Sarauskaite scored 6 points and had 9 rebounds. The rest of the team was far from that.

The Lithuanian juniors left a much better impression in the offense so far. They have 65 points per match, and are the fourth best team on the EC in that category. Their opponents today, the Russians, are the third, with 65.7 points. The problem for Lithuania is that they're bad defensively. They concede 68 points per match (second worst), and Russia allow only 51 points per match.

The Russians are second best in the rebound, and that segment could decide today. The Lithuanians will hardly be able to deal with the tall and good Russian centers. Tatiana Sema and Zhosselina Maiga are probably the best Russian tandem on the tournament. 

Russia were defeated in the first round, in the overtime against the strong France, and then outplayed the Turks by 20, outplayed the Slovenians by +30 on Saturday, while Slovenia defeated both Turkey and France in the first two rounds. It was another very decent game by Sema who caught 14 rebounds and added 8 points, 4 turnovers and 3 blocks. 

The wing player Daria Kolosovskaja (15 points against Slovenia) is also playing great on this tournament. Russia scored 72 points against Slovenia, and had 72 field goal (11/28 three pointers). Lithuanian soft defense will definitely suit them, and the Russians should easily impose their game style today. 

The Russians were 18 points ahead against Slovenia by the end of the first period already, conceding only 6 points in that time. They kept the same difference till the half-time, and then Slovenian game finally fell apart in the third period. The Russians didn't give them slack in the last period, either, and increased the difference to 30 points.

Russia carried only one win to the second round, and they don't really have the right to make a wrong step against the objectively weaker Lithuanians, because their next opponents will be Belgium and Serbia. 

Though the margin of 124 points seems to be set too high for junior female basketball, I think it is, in fact, set too low for the game style both Lithuania and Russia have. They play fast pace basketball, with a lot of field shots, and attacks that are quite fast as a result of it. The Lithuanian junior team have so far been doing much better in offense than the opponents. They're average is 65 points, which makes them the forth best team in the EC. With an average of 65,7 points, their opponents the Russians are third best. The problem for Lithuania is defense. Thy concede 68 points on average (second worst), and Russia should thus not have problem enforcing their typical game. They are the better team here, and a nervous and close game is not very likely to happen here. Lithuania played a game with almost 150 points scored against Serbia, a team much similar to Russia. In the game against Greece, 135 points were scored, and in the last round against the defense-oriented Belgium, 116 points were scored. But, Russia are far better than Belgium defense-wise.