Hungary Come Away With Win In Finland

With their chances of a place at EuroBasket Women already blown out of the water, Finland and Hungary locked horns in Vantaa with pride on the line and trying to avoid finishing bottom of the Group.

Having already lost influential star Anna Vajda for the entire campaign, Hungary were dealt a blow when leading scorer Zsofia Fegyverneky was also ruled out and that meant having to dig deep - something they did impressively well.

Showing plenty of composure in the closing stages from the free-throw line, the visitors managed to grind out a 61-56 success to ensure they won't finish in the last spot in Group C and in the process also ensuring Finland remain winless.

In a game which only underlined the chronic lack of firepower for both teams, it was a contest when the respective misfiring offences were exposed as the visitors edged into a 13-12 lead after the first period.

A 9-2 run at the beginning of the second quarter gave the home team some hope that they could finally get off the mark but by half-time Finland were made to pay for their sloppiness in the last five minutes.

Hungary were back in front, capitalising on 17 first half turnovers to lead 28-26.

The third quarter was slightly better for Finland and heading into the last ten minutes of action, they had managed to take the lead away from Hungary and held a slender 45-43 advantage.

Both teams continued to struggle to find any rhythm and it wasn't until Tijana Krivacevic made four consecutive free-throws that Hungary opened up some daylight at 55-51.

Finland then edged back ahead after five straight points but it was Krivacevic back on the line that swung the momentum back in the favour of Hungary before Nora Nagy-Bujdoso scored the crucial basket to wrap things up.

Krivacevic finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds while Taru Tuukkanen had 16 points and 9 rebounds for Finland.

Quotes Finland vs. Hungary

"Of course it bothers us that we lost another game. The positive thing was that we were able to fight and had the opportunity to win the game. We showed what we're capable of in defense. In the end we were too reckless with the ball. It seems we don't have the routine needed to win this kind of close games.

"Sickness and injuries are not an excuse. We have two games left and our plan is to win them both."

Finland head coach Tommi Koskinen:
"We can be happy with our fight and moral. We played great defense and did everything we could, but once again, our opponent was an inch better. Preparing to this game has been extremely difficult for us because of the stomach flu, but that is not an excuse for this loss.
We could have done some things better. We turned the ball over 25 times, which means that we also lost 25 shot opportunities. We could have also needed a few more players to help us in the offensive end.
"Taru Tuukkanen, Tiina Sten and Heta Korpivaara all played well, but all the other players we had combined for only 11 points. Carrying a team is too much of a task for three players.
"Every game is an opportunity to learn for the players. We have an inexperienced team and these kind of games are not played that often.
We have a possibility to play against some of the best players in the world in the next two games and they are the best possible preparation for our young players for the Eurobasket qualifications of next years."

Hungary head coach Norbert Szekely:
"I want to congragulate team Finland that was capable of winning the game despite all the injuries lately. We know where Finland is, since we have also had our share of injuries lately. The level of the game was not that high and in the end, it was just a matter of couple balls bouncing our way."

"Right now we hope we can beat Turkey at home and snatch our place in the additional qualifying round."