Although they had a seven-pointer to win 12 seconds before the end, the cadets of Montenegro had to settle for a draw with Iceland (18:18) in the 2nd round of the World Handball Championship in North Macedonia.
The chance to settle the match was missed by Jelena Vukčević, whose shot was stopped by Etel Gida Bjarnasen.
The Icelanders had seven seconds to attack after the time-out, but Elin Klara Torkelsdottir's shot was routinely saved by Marija Marsenić.
Marsenić was fully deservedly declared the player of the match, because she saved 11 shots and was an unsolvable enigma for the Icelanders, especially in the 2nd half.
Vukčević was the most effective with five goals, but from as many as 15 shots, Nađa Micevska was accurate three times, Nikolina Marković, Ivana Vujadinović and Katarina Šutović scored twice, and Lana Pavićević, Mia Ražnatović, Ema Kolić and Maja Ceklić scored once each.
Tomorrow is a day of rest for the young "lionesses", and on Tuesday they will play Sweden for placement in the main stage, for which a draw is enough.
If they make it to the top 16, Maja Savić's team will carry over a point from the duel with Iceland and will be very close to the quarterfinals, because they will meet the two best teams from group B, and they are by no means handball superpowers - North Macedonia and Iran.
Today, after the initial defeat against Iceland (23:18), the Swedish women defeated Algeria with a basketball score of 54:30. There were even more goals in the duel between Croatia and India, which the "fire" won 54:36.
Bonus video:
