Israel's U16 Girls Basketball Team Relegated to Division B After Loss to Lithuania

Israel's under-16 girls basketball team suffered a disappointing 80-69 defeat to Lithuania on Wednesday in the European Championship classification matches, resulting in their relegation to Division B. The loss means Israel will now compete for places 13 to 16, facing Romania on Friday. Although typically only the bottom three teams are relegated, Bulgaria will remain in Division A next year as the host nation, despite playing in the relegation match against Italy. This relegation marks the only instance among Israel's youth basketball teams where the squad will not compete in Division A next season, as both the women's under-20 team finished as runners-up in Europe and the girls' under-18 team won the Division B championship, earning promotion back to Division A.

The game was closely contested throughout, with Israel holding a slight lead at the end of the first quarter (17-13) and maintaining a narrow advantage at halftime (38-34). Lithuania tightened their defense in the third quarter and took a 53-50 lead going into the final period. In the last quarter, Lithuania extended their lead to 67-60 with six minutes remaining, and Israel struggled offensively as the gap widened to 71-62 with two minutes left. Despite efforts to close the deficit, Israel could not recover.

Key Israeli players included Michal Abudraham, who scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and both Rona Tzalal and Tehal Dogan, who contributed 12 points each. Other contributors were Ella Maoz Berda with 10 points and Adi Levi with 6 points. The team will now prepare for their next match against Romania in the classification round.