Lithuania squeezed into the Termosteps U16 European Championship Women semi-finals despite an 81-73 defeat to the Czech Republic in their last quarter-final Group F game.

They went into the final 10 minutes 74-49 down but stormed back to close to 79-73.

It never looked to be in doubt when they established a 24-18 first-quarter advantage and they still held the lead at half-time, 38-36.

But a third-quarter collapse, in which the Czechs scored 14 unanswered points, left them teetering on the brink of elimination.

Shooting guard Marina Solopova led the charge with 20 points, while center Giedre Paugaite contributed 15 points and four rebounds.

Katerina Zavazalova was the game's top scorer with 27 points for the Czech Republic.