On November 14, 2021, the National team of Belarus beat the team of the Netherlands in overtime with a score of 83:72 in the FIBA EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers game.
The starting five of women’s team of Belarus: Aliaksandra Tarasava, Darya Mahalias, Maryia Papova, Alexandria Marie Bentley, Anastasiya Verameyenka.
Despite the fact that our guests were the first to open the scoring in the match, the team of Belarus quickly made things right. First, an accurate three-point shot by Alex Bentley, and then a well-played throw-in, after which Anastasiya Verameyenka scored two easy points from under the basket, put the team of Belarus up. At the end of the second minute of the quarter, Maryia Papova also opened her own scoring 10:2. And after an accurate three by Darya Mahalias, who made her debut in the National team in a recent match against the Czech Republic, the score became 15:4 – as a result the head coach of the Netherlands had to take a timeout. The team of Netherlands, which led with a score of 8:0, dominated the next two and a half minutes. Of course, Nataliya Trafimava reacted to such a rush of the team of the Netherlands with a timeout. However, the end of the quarter was better for the team of the Netherlands, which allowed it to finish the first 10 minutes of the game with a score of 21:16.
Long distance shots from Papova and Tarasava, successful layups by Verameyenka - and at the middle of the second quarter, the team of Belarus led 29:25. However, the team of the Netherlands did not flinch and were able to keep playing, primarily thanks to rebounds and two accurate long-distance attacks made by Laura Cornelius and Kourtney Treffers. After the half time, the score was 36:34 not in favor of the team of Belarus.
In the third quarter, the hard hustle continued. Anastasiya Verameyenka played the role of the main point-getter, who never left the court during these ten minutes. Yet the team of the Netherlands managed to find out how to react to the accurate shots of the National team of Belarus, which allowed them to maintain the lead after 30 minutes of the game with a 50:47 score.
In the first 2 minutes of the fourth quarter, Nataliya Trafimava let Anastasiya Verameyenka to rest. However, without their experienced leader, the team of Belarus began to lose 50:57. Appearing on the court again, Anastasiya immediately scored two points. Moreover, the presence of the five seemed to give the team of Belarus more confidence, and they seemed to have a second wind. Alex Bentley shot two shots from behind the three-point arc, which helped the team of Belarus reduce the gap to -2 points 3 minutes before the end of the match.
160 seconds before the end of the quarter, Verameyenka evened the score 62:62. The intensity of the hustle was only growing, and none of the players wanted to let the victory slip away. A minute before the end, Aliaksandra Tarasava hit a three-pointer 65:65, and in 12 seconds, as it seemed at the time, before the final siren, Bentley successfully made a spectacular layup. An immediate timeout of the team of the Netherlands, after which Kourtney Treffers again restored equality in the score 67:67. In the remaining 8 seconds of the quarter, the digits on the scoreboard did not change, and the opponent had to determine the strongest during the overtime period.
During overtime period, the team of Belarus showed their best and completely surpassed the opponent. At this time, Maryia Papova and Aliaksandra Tarasava took over the roles of leaders, who managed to score 9 and 7 points, respectively. The National team of Belarus won with a score of 16:5, gaining the second victory in a row in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 – Qualifiers and leading in Group I.
Belarus - Netherlands - 83:72 (16-21, 18-15, 13-14, 20-17, 16-5)
Best players of the team of Belarus: Anastasiya Verameyenka (23 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block shot), Maryia Papova (21 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals), Aliaksandra Tarasava (19 points, 9 assists, 2 rebounds), Alex Bentley (16 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals).
Nataliya Trafimava, head coach of the women's National team of Belarus said: "It is always important and very nice to win in a home match. Especially if it happens in extra five minutes. We scored 16 points in overtime, which means that the girls managed to show what they are made of at the most important moment and show their skills. During the match, we were catching up. However, I am very glad that we had enough resilience and the right tactical decisions to win this match. It is always very difficult to catch up, but we had a visible reserve, and we tried to realize it. I liked the game with the Netherlands more tactically than the previous one. We played better. The only thing is that the defense tactics of the Netherlands were slightly different compared to their previous game with Ireland, according to the video of which we analyzed today's opponent. Therefore, at first it was not easy for us to rebuild. As soon as we picked up the right keys to their defense, everything turned out right away. Many thanks to all the fans who supported us to the end, which definitely helped us to win."
Reference:
Let us remind you that according to the competition system of the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers, each team will play home and away games with all the opponents of their pool (round robin system).
The FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers games will be played in three windows (two games in each window) as follows:
1st "window": from November 7 to 15, 2021 (games on November 11 and November 14, 2021);
2nd "window": from 20 to 28 November 2022 (games on November 24 and November 27, 2022);
3rd "window": from 5 to 13 February 2023 (games on February 9 and February 12, 2023).
As part of the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers, Nataliya Trafimava's charges will meet with the National teams of the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Ireland (Group I).
Teams participating in the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 do not automatically qualify for the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers (they also need to qualify to get there).
All teams, including the hosts of the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers - Israel and Slovenia, will take part in the competition.
The 10 group winners and the four top 4 runners-up teams in the pools will partake in FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023.
Note: the results of all games will be taken into account to determine the standings in the group. To determine the top 4 teams from 10 groups that took second places in them, the results against the teams located on the fourth lines in the pools will not be taken into account.
If one of the hosts of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023 is among the 14 teams that qualified for FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023 during the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers (10 group winners and 4 best teams that took 2nd places), the team that became the fifth best of runners-up among all pools in the qualifying tournament (if the two host countries are among the above-mentioned 14 national teams, respectively, the sixth best team from the runners-up of all pools in the qualifying tournament will also get the right to participate in the main round of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023).
16 teams will play in the final part of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023.
Israel and Slovenia, although they will play in the qualifying tournament, however, despite the result in it, they automatically go to FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023 as the hosts of the competition. Another 14 teams will qualify for FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023.
Official website of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023.
Social media:
Twitter: Twitter.com/EuroBasketWomen
Facebook: Facebook.com/EuroBasketWomen
Instagram: Instagram.com/EuroBasketWomen
YouTube: YouTube.com/FIBA
Official hashtag: #EuroBasketWomen
- Details