Defending champions Lithuania turned the ball over 28 times but still claimed a 72-44 win over the Czech Republic on Thursday night.

The Baltic team destroyed the Czechs in the battle of the boards 67-32 to start the tournament on the right foot.

Lithuania stretched a 24-18 advantage after the opening quarter to 44-29 by half-time. The winning team's Gintare Mazionyte led all scorers with 12 points at the break.

She finished with a game-high 14 and also had eight rebounds.

Martina Knoflickova led the Czechs with nine points.

Federica Tognalini had 14 points and 13 rebounds in 33 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Italy edged Belarus 51-46.

Irene Pieropan's three-ball gave the Azzurrine a 45-36 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Despite scoring just six points over the final 10 minutes, the Italians prevailed.

"We are happy to have taken this win considering we didn't play well," said Italy coach Mirco Diamanti, whose side committed 22 turnovers.

"The players were tense. The heat affected them and we made a lot of mistakes.

"We should have won by a bigger margin but we take the win and look to improve in our next game."

The Italians were made to sweat as Yuliya Zhuk connected from behind the arc to cut the deficit 50-46 with 16 seconds remaining but Diamanti's team held on for the win.

Federica Tognalini finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Italy were three of 16 (18.8%) from three-point range while their opponents were one of six.