03.09.2005

Spain Bounce Back With Romania Thrashing

Spain crushed Romania 98-53 to get their EuroBasket adventure on track.

Domingo Diaz's team came out determined to make amends following their narrow defeat against Lithuania in their opener.

Amaya Valdemoro, who had 27 points in Friday's loss, remained hot and finished with a game-high of 20 points, while also grabbing 10 rebounds and handing out four assists.

		Amaya Valdemoro

It was not, however, a one woman show as four of her team-mates also reached double figures in scoring.

Spain started the game ice cold, failing to score in the opening three and half minutes.

When Valdemoro scored a lay-up, her team was fortunate to only be trailing 4-2.

Both offences continued to struggle, but the Spanish eventually found their rhythm and went on a couple of decisive runs to put the game out of reach.

With a little over a minute remaining in the first quarter and Romania leading 8-7, Valdemoro buried a three-pointer to start a Spanish surge that the eastern Europeans would not recover from.

By the time Valdemoro had buried another three, with just over a minute gone in the second quarter, Spain had reeled off 13 straight points to lead 20-8.

With just two minutes to play before half-time and Romania trying to stay close at 31-19, Diaz's team delivered the knockout blow.

Spain scored the final nine points of the first half for a 40-19 advantage.

After the restart, the Spanish scored the first six points and cruised the rest of the way.

Romania, brushed aside by Russia 92-60 in their first game, were overpowered in every aspect of the contest against Spain, too. They lost the rebounding battle 49-34 and also committed 19 turnovers to just 13 for Spain.

Svetlana Dragusin had 15 points for Romania in a game her team will be keen to erase.

Spain take on defending champions Russia on Sunday while Romania will try to get their first victory against Serbia & Montenegro.