The girls' under-18 national team reached the final of the Under-18 European championship category C by beating Georgia 53-48 in the first semi final yesterday. On Sunday the local girls led by Sandro Farrugia and Maria Agius will face Armenia for the title. In the second semi-final Armenia had the better of hosts Andorra 71-61.

It was a keenly contested semi-final but the Maltese girls always had the edge over their opponents. Malta had a strong start building a ten-point lead in the first quarter, increasing this lead to eleven points by the half-way line.

In the third and fourth quarters Georgia had the edge over the local girls trimming this lead, but the maltese girls held to a five-point lead by the final horn to deservedly reach the final. Michela Zammit Cordina was once again Malta's best scorer with 19 points in this fourth consecutive win for the girls.

Michela Zammit Cordina is so far the tournament's top scorer with a 16-point per match average.

Other scorers were Sasha Lecuyer with 14 points, Anthea Micallef with ten, Ylenia Bonett with four, Jasmine Abela with three, Emma Jane Azzopardi with two, and one point from Marie Buhagiar.

Meanwhile the boys played their first match in the fifth to ninth classification group, easily disposing of Moldova 71-46. Matthew Scerri was outstanding with 23 points, followed by Ian Felica Pace and Jack Zammit with ten points.

The Maltese boys will now face Andorra on Sunday afternoon.