Turkey encountered resistance early on but pulled away from Italy in the second quarter on Saturday for an 80-61 win - their seventh triumph in eight games in EuroBasket Women 2009 qualifying Group B.

The triumph has sealed first place for the Turks, who had already clinched a place in next year's Final Round in Latvia.

Poland, who split their two games with Turkey, can also finish 7-1 with a win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday, but the Turks would win the tie-breaker as they had a better goal differential in the games between the two.

Saturday's setback for Italy has left them at 4-4. They can now only make it to Latvia if they are successful in next year's Additional Qualifying Round.

The Azzurre only trailed 19-18 after Chiara Pastore drilled a three-pointer late in the first quarter but Turkey reeled off the next 10 points to take command for good.

Nevriye Yilmaz had 13 points to lead a balanced Turkey scoring attack.

Maria Franchini also poured in 13 to lead the Italians.

Ceyhun Yıldızoğlu, Turkey coach:

"When we started this Qualifying Round, we wanted to win all our games. But because of some problems we lost one game against Poland. But I am sure that all of this will be good experience for us. I only want to see more players and good players and for this the coaches and the players of Turkish clubs they have towork hard. This is our first step. The next step is to play in the World Championship."

Giampiero Ticchi, Italy coach:

"This was the most important game for us, because we want to go through to the EuroBasket Final Round next year. And this game can still be an important advantage for us. Turkey is the strongest team in the group and this is also important to improve ourselves. We thought that Turkish team's consentration will not be a hundred percent in the second half. But they went on with their game and they won. They are well organized and they won. I really would like to thank them for this game."