| 01 August 2007
Reigning champions Spain suffered their first loss at the Termosteps U16 European Championship Women since 2005 as Russia ended their 16-game winning streak with a 63-60 victory in Group F.
The defeat was Spain's first since losing to France in the Qualifying Round of their run to the 2005 title. And it leaves the Iberians in danger of missing out on the semi-finals.
Alexandra Tarasova collected 12 points, 19 rebounds, three assists and five blocked shots as Russia fought back from an 18-point third quarter deficit to improve to 3-1 in Group F. Their final group match on Thursday is against Belgium.
Spain are now 3-1 and next face a top-notch France side, which would love to get revenge for Spain beating them in the 2005 title showdown.
The Spain-Russia battle was tight for the first eight minutes with Russia trailing just 18-17. But the Spanish pressure wreaked havoc led to a 31-18 lead.
The Russians still struggled with the quicker Spaniards and committed five more turnovers early in the second period - in total scoring just one point over a 6:20 stretch. But Spain were unable to take much advantage of that drought, scoring just one basket in that time.
Russia finally broke out of their doldrums with Viktoria Medvedeva and Anastasia Pasynkova hitting back-to-back three-pointers to make it 33-24 and Russia trailed 37-28 at the break.
Spain opened a 46-28 lead with eight minutes remaining in the third period as Russia's problems continued. But Elena Khoudachova's team continued to play tough defence and held the Spaniards to just four points the rest of the quarter in pulling to within 50-43 going into the fourth.
Russia eventually evened the game 56-56 on Tarasova's offensive rebound and put-back with 4:27 left in the game. And they went ahead the next trip down on Medvedeva's two free throws.
Olga Sokolovskaya's three-pointer gave Russia the lead again 61-60 with one minute remaining and Cristina Pedrals Barrios missed a three-pointer with 25 seconds left and watched as Sokolovskaya score a break-away lay-up for a 63-60 advantage with 18 seconds to go.
Claudio Calvelo's jumper with eight seconds was off target and Russia ran out the clock and celebrated.
"This was a win by the whole team and a huge victory for the psychology of this team," said Khoudachova, who was jumping up and down with her coaching staff and players after the victory.
"The girls never gave up and continued to play aggressively. And most importantly they worked very hard on rebounds. That was the key after the quick Spanish players gave us so many problems in the first half."
Spanish coach Jose I. Hernandez Fraile was left consoling his tear-filled players, saying: "I told them we are still alive for the semi-finals. All we have to do is beat France. The Russian defense was very strong and we played at such a high level the whole game we were tired and out of energy at the end."
Leonor Rodriguez paced Spain with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight steals. Barrios and Vega Gimeno Martinez each added 12 points.
Yana Matveeva led Russia with 16 points while Medvedeva chipped in eight points and 12 rebounds in helping Russia out-rebound Spain 56-42.
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