European Basketball Championships: Belgian Cats overpower Czech Republic

The Belgian women's basketball team finished their second group game at the European Championships in Israel and Slovenia with a win on Friday. The Belgian Cats beat the Czech Republic 84-41 in Tel Aviv and took a significant step towards winning the group.

The Cats were never in trouble in their second game in Pool B. Emma Meesseman with 24 points and 11 rebounds, Julie Vanloo (13 points) and Julie Allemand (12 points and 11 assists) were the standouts for Belgium.

The Cats won their opening game of the European Championship against host nation Israel with a resounding 108-59 victory on Thursday night. On Sunday evening, they will play their last group game against Italy.

The group winner will go straight through to the quarter-finals. The second and third seeds will meet the second and third seeds from Group A, which consists of Spain, Latvia, Montenegro and Greece.

Outsiders

The Belgian women are among the outsiders at this European Championship. They won bronze at the European Championships in 2017 and 2020. They finished fifth at the World Championships in Sydney last year after finishing fourth in Tenerife in 2018. The 2021 Olympic Games were disappointing, with a seventh-place finish and a narrow loss to hosts Japan in the quarter-finals.

^{© BELGA PHOTO VIRGINIE LEFOUR}