Turkey Punches Ticket For Second Phase

Isil Alben and Turkey got it done for a second day in a row

By Paul Nilsen

Turning Point: After a miserable opening quarter which had seen Turkey trailing 15-2, they arose from their slumber in the second quarter and finished the period with the last 11 points. This established a foothold in the game and gave them the platform required for an excellent third quarter.

Stats Don't Lie: There is depth and a real quality rotation for Turkey which is credit to head coach Ceyhun Yildizoglu. He had the confidence and trust to hand no fewer than nine players more than 15 minutes in the game - despite a tough opponent and tough situation.

Game Heroes: A trio of guards got the job done for the winning team. Tugba Palazoglu and Esmeral Tuncluer shared four triples and 24 points, whilst Birsel Vardarli had seven assists including a memorable behind-the-back pass.

Turkey produced another classy display after shrugging off a horror start to see off Montenegro 66-57 and become the first team from Vannes to seal a place in Round 2 of EuroBasket Women 2013.

Montenegro jumped out on Turkey with a scorching start, catching their opponents cold, but it wasn't long before Turkey showed their quality by dragging themselves back into the contest.

The Turkish team produced a visible uplift in their defensive intensity and according to Tugce Canitez, this was the most important factor in achieving the turnaround in fortune.

"We started out badly at the beginning of the game but with good defence, we always knew how to come back" asserted the Turkish forward.

"We knew Montenegro are a great team and so I think it was the defence which created this difference between us."

Indeed both sides were very well matched statistically, but Turkey were simply more clinical offensively once they got into their stride - a fact not lost on Montenegrin guard Anna De Forge.

She said "It was a hard fought game and apart from our shooting percentage versus theirs, everything else was even."

"We didn't make shots and they did, especially at the end of the game and this was the story."

Iva Perovanovic had 17 points and eight rebounds in defeat, whilst team-mate Jelena Skerovic had 16 points and nine assists.

Quotes Turkey vs. Montenegro

Montenegro Player Anna DeForge

"It was a hard and tough game. The difference was the shooting percentage, but we still had chances until the end. We didn't give any fast break points and didn't play easy basketball."

Turkey Player Tugce Canitez

"At the beginning of the game we started really bad but we came back with good defence. We knew that Montenegro is a great team but our defence created the final difference."

Montenegro Head Coach Miodrag Baletic

"We played against a much respected team and the difference was our smaller number of bench players. I think conceding only 66 points is a success, but we did not score enough ourselves. This game proved that our young players are very inexperienced and pressured to play this kind of games. In my opinion, it was a very good game with an uncertain final. Tomorrow's game [against Ukraine] is very serious. We know that we have the better goal average and we are favourites but I expect a difficult game."

Turkey Head Coach Ceyhun Yildizoglu

"We respect Montenegro very much, they have very good players and we had to do very well in offence and defence to beat them. In the first quarter, we did not pay enough attention to Montenegro's assets but after that moment, we intensified our game to come back."