Spain Defeat Serbia & Montenegro

Spain brushed aside Serbia & Montenegro in Izmir for their third successive triumph at the EuroBasket Women.

Once again it was the Amaya Valdemoro show as the veteran forward poured in 26 points and pulled down six rebounds while also handing out six assists to propel her side to a 60-52 win.

Valdemoro wreaked havoc in the first quarter by scoring 13 of her points.

Spain's team play was excellent over the next two quarters and seven consecutive points from Valdemoro in a 15-0 surge gave Domingo Diaz's team a 67-40 stranglehold on the contest with seven minutes remaining.

Spain's domination was evident by their control of the boards as they outrebounded the Serbo-Montenegrins 37-27, with Eva Montesdeoca grabbing a game-high 13.

Another reason for Spain's success is the effectiveness of Marta Fernandez, a player who runs up and down the court like a gazelle and had 12 points on Tuesday.

Spain's tournament so far is similar to what unfolded for them at the 2003 EuroBasket when Valdemoro provided much of the inspiration in the group stage.

Even then, just as this year, the Spanish were able to upset Russia.

A test for Valdemoro will be if she can maintain her level of play for the whole event.

She struggled to do so two years ago and Spain were fortunate to claim a bronze medal.

For Serbia & Montenegro they were unable to reproduce the form which saw them beat Lithuania and Romania and none of Zoran Kovacic's players reached double figures in scoring - little wonder with a shooting record of just 33% (21 of 62) for the game.

Spain will seek their fourth consecutive win on Wednesday against hosts Turkey while Serbia & Montenegro complete their Group B campaign against defending champions Russia.