Young women's basketball players advance to the A division

The young women's basketball team of Montenegro advanced to the A division today, after defeating Slovakia 70:55 in the bronze medal match at the European B Championship in Samokov, Bulgaria. Thus, the generation of players led by coach Petar Stojanović, after the juniors, repeated the same success in the U20 competition!

Montenegro's only two defeats at the championship came against the finalists - Portugal in the group and Greece in the semi-finals, and they were at their best when it was most needed, in the matches for qualifying from the group stage and especially in the direct duel for passage into the elite competition against Slovakia.

Montenegro played an excellent first half, primarily defensively and in rebound control. Already during the first quarter, our team reached a double-digit lead (19:9), led by Marija Sekulović, who entered the match in a very positive mood and scored seven points in that period. In defense, Montenegro closed the racket, and the Slovaks shot from the outside at a low percentage, which our team then controlled with rebounds, in which Akšam and Andrić were the leaders. In the second quarter, Atina Radević came into play on offense, so Montenegro controlled a double-digit lead and led 37:26 at halftime.

This kind of play continued until the end of the third quarter, when Slovakia ran 9:0 to reach 49:47 at the start of the final period. Then, with very important three-pointers, Radević and Sekulović repelled the onslaught of their rivals, for a 55:47 lead in the 12th minute of the second half. Even a timeout did not help Slovakia, Montenegro freed itself from the pressure and the playful Radević, Akšam and Dragišić again led our team to a double-digit lead (67:52) with less than four minutes left, so the question of the winner was practically already resolved at that point.

The most efficient player in our team was Atina Radević with 23 points, Marija Sekulović scored 12, Janja Dragišić 11, and Sanja Akšam 10 points with 17 rebounds, 7 of which were offensive. Ljube Andrić recorded eight points and nine rebounds.

With the new great success of the 2006-2007 generation, Montenegro has gained a second selection in the A division of European basketball after the juniors.