Malta felt the strain of five games in six days, and succumbed to a tall and organised side, and the locals had to relinquish the bronze medal won two years ago, in Andorra. A grand comeback at the end saw Malta nearly pull it off, but a Causan trey, her fifth in the game, dashed all hope and Malta had to be content with the fourth position.
The Maltese girls had an uncertain start, contrary to the other games played, and Moldova raced into an 8-2 lead, with two treys. Malta recovered, to post a couple of treys of their own through Beverlee Zammit and Doreen Parnis, and take the lead. Although Moldova grabbed another trey, the Maltese free shots kept them in front till the end of the session.
Moldova opened up strongly again in the second quarter, and a hefty 13-0 run, with consecutive treys, enabled them to storm into the lead, on a 30-20 score.
Malta recovered with a Zammit trey, but Moldova were playing confidently. The locals cut down their deficit, but the visitors were still calm in their play, and another trey helped them to register a good 38-29 advantage at the interval.
After the break Moldova were still in command. An 11-4 run soon after the restart gave them a commanding 53-36 lead, as another couple of treys found their mark. Malta tried to recover till the end of the session, but Moldova were very accurate in their shooting, as indeed was Doreen Parnis for Malta. The locals rallied at the end, with a 7-0 run, but were hit again with another trey, and after three sessions it was Moldova, at 66-52.
In the final quarter Moldova stood off Malta's expected surge, at first, and in fact managed to increase their lead. Malta stuck to their task, and managed to post a 10-2 run. Moldova were in difficulties and the Maltese came back strongly, to just a hoop down, at 75-77, but the usual trey, from a fast move, deflated all the hopes of a glorious finish, as Moldova held on to claim the bronze medal.
Malta: 11 D. Galea, A. Sciortino, 6 L. Bezzina, 6 G. Zarb, A. Borg, K. Micallef, F. Schembri, 11 B. Zammit, 18 J. Grima, C. Fenech
Moldova: M. Salopa, 9 O. Macovchina, 18 O. Kazak, T. Alifanova, 14 N. Burlacova, 10 I. Suetina, 19 A. Causan, 9 M. Malinovskaia, 2 O. Selezniova
Referees: E. McKinley (SCO), H. Jones (WAL)
In the final, favourites Luxembourg, beat Scotland 54-49, to win the gold medal. The Maltese referee, Bernard Vassallo, was entrusted with this final, together with Ian Felice, of Gibraltar
In another match, for fifth place, Andorra beat Gibraltar 98-36, and Wales finished in sixth place, ahead of Gibraltar.
As from the next edition this tournament will now be known as the European Third Division.
Josephine Grima among All Stars
Meanwhile, Malta’s Josephine Grima had the honour of finishing among the All-Star Five players who took part in the tournament.
She was selected along with Olga Kazak of Moldova, also named as the player of the tournament, Tessy Hetting of Luxembourg, Rose Anderson of Scotland and Claudine Koch, from Luxembourg.