Belgium made good forecasts. Despite the fact that historically they only had two bronze medals in the women's Eurobasket and that Spain touched the option of hanging the gold for many minutes, even reaching a maximum advantage of 10 points (48-38), they prevailed over the team led by Miguel Martínez Méndez thanks to the great performances signed by their interiors Emma Meesseman (24 points, PIR 21) and Kyara Linskens (18 points, PIR 43). The Spaniards, with a more choral attack in which Queralt Casas (14 points), Raquel Carrera (12 points) and Paula Ginzo (10 points) shone above all, ended up falling against a rival who has passed almost like a steamroller over of most of their opponents in the tournament. Silver, despite the bitterness it leaves behind, also has a lot of merit.

Spain reached the final after starting the group stage with a defeat against Latvia (67-63) that helped them get their batteries back. After that setback, they beat Montenegro (78-57) and Greece (76-60), defeated Germany in the quarterfinals with a great defense (67-42) and in the semifinals, with a great Alba Torrens, defeated by 69-60 to a Hungary. Torrens, in fact, has already established herself as the national team's all-time top scorer in the Europeans, after surpassing the 675 achieved by Amaya Valdemoro with which she has scored in this Eurobasket.

Spain dominated almost the entire match

The match against a Belgium that was standing in the duel for gold with an impeccable career, in which they completed a first phase in which they beat Israel (108-59), the Czech Republic (41-84) and Italy (72- 54), in the quarterfinals they crushed Serbia (93-53) and in the semifinals they beat France (67-63), who ultimately won the bronze. However, the team led by Miguel Martínez Méndez once again entrusted itself to its enormous defensive balance to, almost step by step, go seven points ahead at halftime (32-25).. In the first quarter, Emma Meesseman, of course, was the main offensive argument for the Belgians, but the destructive work of Laura Gil, essential, and Queralt Casas was essential to take advantage of the offensive contribution of Alba Torrens and Raquel Carrera to finish the first ten minutes with partial victory by 17-13.

The defensive work of the Spaniards took one step further in a second quarter that ended, once again, with a win for Spain. In this case, by 15-12 and with Queralt Casas shining in offensive work, although a late three-pointer by Maite Cazorla was also completely decisive to stand at half-time with sufficient distance, although perhaps not entirely comfortable.. Miguel Martínez Méndez's team, with a 7-2 run, managed to accumulate a maximum advantage of nine points (24-15) in the initial moments, but ended up seeing how the Belgians got dangerously close thanks to two good triples by Julie Vanloo .

Spain, after the break, in a tremendously competitive third quarter, managed to leave with a 10-point advantage (48-38) with an attack in which the contribution of Leonor Rodríguez especially shone. And, even, he could have reached the last and definitive period with those figures if he had not sinned from excessive precipitation in one of the last attacks that allowed Julie Allemand to sign a last partial of 0-5 with which he sent the game to the last quarter with things tremendously tight (48-43) and a certain dose of morale for some Belgians who, finally, achieved their first partial victory in the match (16-18). Emma Meesseman and Kyara Linskens, who would be decisive for the Belgians in the last period, for their part, also made very good contributions for their team.

Belgium wins comeback

In the final quarter, Belgium managed to stifle Spain's attack and take the lead for the first time on the scoreboard.. Linskens and Meesseman, the two pivots of the Belgian team, ended with a stroke of the pen the dreams of triumph of a Spanish team that swam a lot to end up dying on the shore. Shooting ex officio, his rival came to have a maximum advantage of six points on the scoreboard that would end up being completely insurmountable for Spain and that would culminate in the final 58-64.