Romania booked their place at the EuroBasket Women for the second time running with a 76-52 mauling of Finland.

The triumph was their third in four games and guaranteed the Romanians a spot in Italy, where next year’s big event will be staged.

For the winners, Ildiko Vass had 24 points while Maria Pascalau finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Vass & Co took charge early, going on an 11-3 run over a five and-half-minute stretch to extend their 8-6 lead to 19-9 with 1:58 to go in the first quarter.

The Finns twice cut the deficit to six points early in the second period, yet got no closer.

Annemarie Parau’s jump shot with 4:05 left in the half capped an 8-0 run and left Romania in command at 34-20.

It got worse for the Nordic country, with Romania closing the half with a 10-1 spurt for a 44-24 stranglehold on the game.

It was one-way traffic the rest of the way as well as Romania cruised to victory.

Romania were just one of nine from three-point range, but inside the arc, they made 29 of 55 (52.7%).

By contrast, Finland, who lost for the fourth time, were six of 20 (30%) from long range, while inside the arc they were 13 of 40 (32.5%).

Parau also had 12 points for the Romanians, who split their two games with Serbia but lost first place on goal differential.