Spain made its Eurobasket debut with a win against Croatia

They faced a duel Miguel Méndez’s players are clear favoritesBut they found a brave and inspiring opponent from the trio, refusing to accept their disadvantage of less than two points in the first quarter and taking a 19-12 lead with a good 10-2 run.

Spain, whose outside shot was rejected in the opening opening and came forward with the rebound, remained calm. This enabled them not to despair when things went wrong and closed the gap with baskets by María Conde and Leo Rodríguez before the end of the first ten minutes (19-16, minute 10).

However, when we returned to the parquet, everything continued to develop in the same direction until the breakage. Although visitors are becoming more accommodating, equalizing at times and even going forward, Perimeter shooting brought the Croats to their feet.

So much so that 21 of the 34 points in the game came from long distance. And in this art Iva Slonjsak shined above all, scoring 4 goals in 6 tries, and some of them happened in moments when Spain had better emotions. We reached half-time with the Croatians two ahead and Spain with plenty of room to improve (34-32, minute 20).

He went The Spanish team was more harmonious in the second half. With better tempo in defense and better judgment in attack – despite the perimeter still not working – they achieved a partial 2-10 in the first four minutes of the restart, which forced the local bench to stop play. to stop the opponent’s rise (36-42, minute 24).

The conflict has been rebalanced. Since the Croatians and Spaniards could not establish clear control, they left everything to be resolved until the last ten minutes (45-47, minute 30).

Triple Patricia Bura became the best local player with 15 points and 8 reboundsreturned command to the Croats with the start of the last quarter. Center and Laura Gil shared successes until Maite Cazorla’s three-pointer gave Spain its biggest advantage so far (50-57, minute 34).

The locals tried but could not reduce their disadvantages. Paula GinzoHe held on for a half-dozen cushion points from mid-range with 3:40 left, and Stipe Bralic stopped the shootout again to attempt a comeback. María Conde’s triple gave maximum advantage to her team, which knew how to control the scoreboard until the end, and took its first victory in the Eurobasket knockout stage.