The champs from the Czech Republic opened their EuroBasket 2007 campaign with an easy 75-43 win over underdog Israel in the second game of Group A in Vasto on Monday night.

Israel put up a big fight, and was strong in the game for 15 minutes, but the Czech team took off late in the first half and never looked back.

"They are just a by far better team than us," concluded Israel's Katia Abramzon. "In the first half we were close more because they didn't play well, and not because we stopped them."

Both teams suffered from a bad shooting night early in the game.

Israel connected on only three out of 18 shots while the Czech Republic was six out of 15 and after ten minutes the champs were up 17-11.

Big fighting spirit on the Israeli side didn't allow their opponents to take over the game early despite dominating in the paint.

With 3:44 to go in the first half the Czechs seemed to be in trouble.

Israel's Jennifer Fleisher drew the fourth foul from Jana Vesela and made it just a four point game from the line.

That's when momentum swung back to the defending champions. 

Vesela stayed on court, but bit did not pick up her fifth as she added a jumper, which started the run to decide the game.

Eva Viteckova nailed a three pointer at the buzzer to make it a double-digit margin, 35-24 at the end of the first half, and sent a message to the Israeli side.

"The three pointer at the buzzer of the half broke our spirit, and from that point it was their game," confessed Abramzon.

The Czech Republic came back from the locker room with the aim to close the business as soon as possible.

Before the end of the following quarter Israel was already down 50-29, and the margin just kept growing until the final buzzer.

22-year-old Edita Sujanova of Czech finished her first EuroBasket game with 12 points without a miss from the field and four rebounds all in the second half when her team took off.

"It was special to me to play in my first EuroBasket game. I'm happy to be with so many good players on the same team," she said after the game.

Israel will face Latvia tomorrow, while the Czechs will look for their second win when they meet Turkey.

Just like in EuroBasket men we have on opening day a game between the reigning champs and the last team who qualified.

There it was Greece against Israel, here it the names will be different.

The champs from the Czech Republic will take on Israel, who qualified just several days ago to EuroBasket from the additional qualifying round.

The Czechs, who also won silver four years ago, arrive here suffering from some injuries and also had to say goodbye to Eva Nemcova who's responsible for the gold medal from two years ago with the clutch winning shot, still they are confident in their ability to go all the way with another impressive line up.

Israel, obviously, ride on momentum and will try to enjoy their fourth EuroBasket experience, after shocking by eliminating Slovakia only a few days ago, Israel is set to shock their neighbors from the East.

Key Match Up: 190 cm Czech Eva Viteckova can hit it from any range, but keeps her game inside the team play. Two years ago she scored in double-digits in all the games, but never more than 19. She will meet at the other end Liad Suez, the Israeli 188cm forward who will try to stop her moves, while contributing on offense as well.

Statistics: Israel scored between 71 and 72 points in their last three games. They'll need to score more than that to compete with the Czechs who will use all their weapons to open a big lead right from the start and decide the game early.

What It Means: The champs want to send out a message they are still on top of things even with Nemcova and the injured list. Israel know they need a big miracle to upset the first opponent, but lately they managed to have luck on their side. A win here is a huge bonus for Israel, while the Czechs simply can't afford to lose.

Sounding off: "It is a pity we have injury problems but our team is strong enough and we cannot be scared of any team, but we also cannot underestimate any team." – Czech coach Jan Bobrovsky.