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Expectations were high for the Czech Republic to defend their crown at the 2007 EuroBasket Women in Italy, and of course many were a bit shocked that tournament debutants Belarus knocked off the Czechs in the quarter-finals.
While the best players in Europe compete for gold on the floor at EuroBasket Women there were a couple of youngsters watching from the stands who were soaking it all in, hoping they might someday suit up for their national team.
Evaristo Perez is new to the EuroBasket, but he’s looked like a veteran campaigner in leading the Spanish to a gold medal game showdown against Russia.

Spain's coach spoke to Cindy Garcia-Bennett after his team’s semi-final triumph over Belarus.

What do Sandrine Gruda, Edwige Lawson-Wade and Audrey Sauret-Gillespie have to do with Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Ronny Turiaf?

One answer is obvious: they are all French national team players.

Yelena Leuchanka of Belarus is enjoying this year's EuroBasket Women more than most of the players, and for good reason.

The 24-year-old center, who had 11 points and six rebounds in her team's 52-46 upset of the defending champions Czech Republic in Thursday's quarter-final round, is just happy to be running up and down the court.

Russia gave their fans a scare when they lost to Serbia in their opening Group F qualifying game but star center Maria Stepanova has assured everyone back in Moscow that all is well.

And anyone who has followed Stepanova and Russia in recent years will know that she is probably right.
When Sviatlana Volnaya hears the word pioneer, she kind of smiles and thinks a moment before saying: “The feeling that you did something first, tried and succeeded, yeah it's a good feeling.”
If you had scanned the tribunes at the Palazzetto di Sport on Sunday you might have noticed a tall, middle aged man, elbows on knees, following the action intently between conversations with dignitaries and fans.
Just minutes after registering a shocking 54-47 upset over the defending champions Czech Republic, Germany downplayed the importance of the victory and said it would mean nothing if they don't reach the quarter-finals of the 2007 EuroBasket Women.

Romania may have bowed out of the 2007 EuroBasket Women after three straight defeats in Group B in Lanciano, but their third showing on Europe's biggest stage in the past 20 years was definitely a learning experience.


Good New, Bad News: Day Twelve
The semi-finals brought good news for Anna Montanana, Gunta Basko and Russia's third quarter. The bad news focus on the poor offensive performance by Belarus and Latvia.
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Good News, Bad News: Day Eleven
The second day of the quarter-finals was, as usual, full of good news and bad news.

The big defense of Spain, the up and down of Maria Stepanova in the win over Lithuania, the total control of Russia under the rims and the two aspects that didn't work for Belgium against Spain.
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Good News, Bad News: Day Ten
The first set of the quarter-finals showed two great players with great character in the winning team, one big message from Latvia, a lack of killer instinct in the former champs and a scoring drought that was too much to handle.
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Good News, Bad News: Day Nine
The last day of the qualifying round saw a very even-keeled team from Belarus upseting the nervous Italians, a big domination by the Russian twin towers against Spain that covered for a very bad first half of both sides and a great French professional spirit that was enough to hide a horrible day from long range.
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Good News, Bad News: Day Eight
Day eight of EuroBasket 2007 showed good news for a Czech side who woke up in crunch time to beat Belgium, the Lithuanian team stepping up from long range in the last quarter and another show by Ann Wauters of Belgium.
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Good News, Bad News: Day Seven
Day seven of EuroBasket Women 2007 showed another improvement in the turnovers department, the pride of Russia playing a big part, Serbia falling asleep again and Italy's team play taking full advantage of that.
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Good News, Bad News: Day Six
Day six of EuroBasket 2007 showed us teams start to group together and make less turnovers, the end of Alexandra Muller's missed shots streak and a silent second half by Lithuania.
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Good News, Bad News: Day Five
The first day in Group F allowed Good News Bad News to focus on the huge last quarter of Milica Dabovic, the failure of Russia to take over the game again and again and the small things that won the games for Spain and France.
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Good News, Bad News: Day Four
The first day of the qualifying round made the Czech team the first to appear in both sides of this page, showed how Belgium make their Scholar's mate and how important Yilmaz is for the Turkish team.
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Good News, Bad News: Day Three
In the third edition of Good News, Bad News we'll talk about the stone cold Alexandra Muller, the hot hand Turkey and Russia adopted and the nightmare Greece had against the Russian giants.
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