The Bulgarian women's national basketball team defeated the Ukrainian team with 80:60 (30:16, 20:15, 14:10, 16:19) as a guest in the Latvian capital Riga in a match of the second round in Group E of the first stage of the qualifications for the next European Championship, BNT reported.
The victory is the second in a row for the team led by coach Tanya Gateva, who heads the provisional standings, and the Ukrainian team suffered its first loss for a balance of 1-1.
In the other match of the second round in the group, Montenegro won in their away match against Azerbaijan with 194:62 and also continues with an asset of 1-1, while the Azerbaijani team suffered a second defeat.
The Bulgarian team took the initiative in the opening minutes and pulled ahead by 14 points at the end of the first quarter – 30:16. The national team did not allow the distance to be shortened until the break and increased the difference to 20 points at 48:28 after a basket by Hillsman with 39 seconds remaining, and after 20 minutes of play Bulgaria led 50:31. At this stage, Karina Konstantinova, Borislava Hristova and Kayla Hillsman led the team, scoring 18, 12 and 10 points respectively.
The Bulgarian team controlled the game after the break, including increasing its lead to 27 points. Before the final 10 minutes, the national team led 64:41. In them, the Ukrainians only managed to reduce their deficit a little and Bulgaria recorded a second convincing success in the EuroBasket 2027 qualifiers.
Borislava Hristova was the most productive player for the victory with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Karina Konstantinova contributed with 20 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Kayla Hilsman accounted for 15 points and 7 rebounds, and Radostina Dimitrova added 12 points and 5 rebounds.
For Ukraine, Tetyana Yurkevichus distinguished herself with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists.
The matches of the first stage of the EuroBasket 2027 qualifiers will be held in the period November 9-19, 2025 and March 8-18, 2026. The top two teams from each of the seven groups, plus the three best third-placed teams, will qualify for the second stage, and the matches will take place between 8 and 18 November 2026 and between 7 and 17 February 2027.
The Bulgarian women's team will play their first home match of this first stage of the European qualifiers. They will welcome the Montenegrin team on 18 November at 19:00 at the “Arena Botevgrad“.