Lithuania women's national basketball team

This article is about Lithuania women's national basketball team. For Lithuania men's national team, see Lithuania men's national basketball team.
Lithuania
FIBA ranking 25 Decrease 10
Joined FIBA 1936
FIBA zone FIBA Europe
National federation Lithuanian Basketball Federation
Coach Mantas Šernius
Nickname(s) Basketball: The Second Religion, Game of the Nation
Olympic Games
Appearances 0
Medals None
Women's World Cup
Appearances 3
Medals None
EuroBasket Women
Appearances 11
Medals Gold 1997
Silver 1938
Uniforms
Home
Away

The Lithuania national women's basketball team (Lithuanian: Lietuvos nacionalinė moterų krepšinio rinktinė) represents Lithuania in international basketball matches.

Current squad

The roster for the EuroBasket Women 2013.

Lithuania women's national basketball team roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr.
PG 4 Gutkauskaitė, Gabrielė 22 – (1990-10-26)26 October 1990 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) Fortūna Klaipėda Lithuania
SF 5 Nacickaitė, Kamilė 23 – (1989-12-28)28 December 1989 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) CUS Chieti Italy
PG 6 Visgaudaitė, Inesa 22 – (1991-05-20)20 May 1991 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in) Toulouse Métropole Basket France
SF 7 Kvederavičiūtė, Mantė 22 – (1990-11-28)28 November 1990 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Kibirkštis Vilnius Lithuania
PF 8 Pikčiūtė, Lina 22 – (1990-11-17)17 November 1990 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Kibirkštis Vilnius Lithuania
PG 9 Žemantauskaitė, Rasa 32 – (1981-01-11)11 January 1981 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) Sirenos Kaunas Lithuania
PF 10 Grigalauskytė, Monika 21 – (1992-02-17)17 February 1992 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Fortūna Klaipėda Lithuania
PF 11 Paugaitė, Giedrė 22 – (1990-07-15)15 July 1990 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) USO Mondeville France
C 12 Šalkauskė, Iveta 31 – (1982-02-03)3 February 1982 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) Sirenos Kaunas Lithuania
C 13 Petronytė, Gintarė 24 – (1989-03-19)19 March 1989 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Taranto Cras Basket Italy
PF 14 Vengrytė, Kristina 31 – (1981-12-21)21 December 1981 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Kibirkštis Vilnius Lithuania
C 15 Šikšniūtė, Eglė 22 – (1991-05-16)16 May 1991 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Fortūna Klaipėda Lithuania

Head coach

  • Lithuania Algirdas Paulauskas

Legend:

  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 15 June 2013

History

The very first basketball players in Lithuania were women.
Lithuania national team during EuroBasket 1938 in Rome, Italy

Basketball first reached Lithuania when the game was already 30 years old. The version originally played was the German (Dutch) variant, not the North American version invented by James Naismith. The baskets were fastened to the poles without boards, and the game was played in a huge court.[1] One of the Lithuanian sport pioneers, Steponas Garbačiauskas, wrote: "In 1919 Lithuanian women athletes started organizing, but they showed up publicly only in 1920–1921 and started playing basketball."[2] Though women started playing basketball in Lithuania before men did, the first official game was played by men on April 23, 1922, when Lietuvos Fizinio Lavinimo Sąjunga (English: Lithuanian Physical Education Union) played a game against Kaunas. LFLS won the game with a score of 8–6. This day is regarded as the beginning of basketball in Lithuania. The first official women's basketball game in Lithuania took place on September 10, 1922.[3]

The first European women's basketball championship was organized in 1938. It was held in Rome, Italy. The Lithuanian women's squad competed and became European vice-champions. The team's head coach was Feliksas Kriaučiūnas, already well known for his achievements with the Lithuanian men's basketball team.[4]

After World War II, the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania and forced it to play for the Soviet Union women's national basketball team. The best Lithuanian players, playing for the Soviet Union national basketball team, won several titles with it. As members of Soviet Union team, Lithuanians (men and women) in total won 17 Olympic medals (8 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze), 17 World championship medals (11 gold, 5 silver and one bronze), and 51 EuroBasket medals (36 gold, 4 silver and 11 bronze).[5] The most decorated Lithuanian players during the Soviet era were Angelė Rupšienė, who won the first two women's Olympic basketball golds in 1976 and 1980 and also the 1971, 1975 World Championships, and Vida Beselienė, who got an Olympic gold in 1980 and the 1983 World Championship. Other Lithuanian world champions were Jurate Daktaraitė (1959), Larissa Vinčaitė (1971), and Chamomile Šidlauskaitė (1983).[6]

Yet the occupation left many painful marks in Lithuania and Lithuanians' memories.

Jurgita Štreimikytė, former WNBA player, one of the 1997's team leaders.

Lithuania women's national basketball team returned to FIBA games only in EuroBasket 1995 and achieved the 5th place.[7]

The team's biggest success was achieved two years later in EuroBasket 1997 when the national team, coached by Vydas Gedvilas, became the European champions in Budapest. It was the first and the only European title for the Lithuanian women's basketball squad.[8]

Year later, Lithuanians participated in the 1998 FIBA World Championship. Despite successful European competition, Lithuanians lost the quarter-finals game to 1994's World champions, Brazil's national team, 70–72 and had to play for fifth place. There they lost to Spain's national team 59–70 and took only 8th place.[9]

In EuroBasket 1999, Lithuania took 6th place and failed to qualify for the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney.[10]

In EuroBasket 2001, Lithuanians qualified for four best tournament's teams, though losing the bronze medals game to Spain 74–89. Yet the team qualified for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, held in China.[11]

Eglė Šulčiūtė with the national team
Kristina Vengrytė
Gintarė Petronytė with the national squad jersey

In the World Championship, Lithuanians played eight games and won three matches against Taiwan, Cuba and Yugoslavia. They took 11th place. As a consequence, Lithuanian Basketball Federation decided to end collaboration with Vydas Gedvilas.[12] In 2003, LKF Executive Committee chose Algirdas Paulauskas as the new Lithuania women's national basketball team coach. He was working previously as an assistant coach in the national team until the 1996 World Championship when he decided to leave the squad due to poor performance.

Rima Valentienė

In EuroBasket 2005, held in Turkey, Lithuanians, after losing last two games, took 4th place, but returned to Lithuania with the voucher to the 2006 FIBA World Championship, held in Brazil.[13]

At the third World Championship, Lithuanians lost the 5th-place game to the French national team and took 6th place, repeating the best performance achieved back in 1998.[14]

In EuroBasket 2007, the Lithuanians were crushed in the 5th-place game against Czech women's national team with result 54–93 and lost all chances of competing for the ticket to the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing. Algirdas Paulauskas left the squad for the second time that year.[15]

In 2007, a sculpture dedicated to the Lithuanian basketball was introduced in Vilnius, near the Siemens Arena.[16] It has carved names of Elena Kubiliūnaitė-Garbačiauskienė, Ona Bartkevičiūtė-Butautienė, Jūratė Daktaraitė, Angelė Jankūnaitė-Rupšienė, Vida Šulskytė-Beselienė, Jurgita Štreimikytė-Virbickienė, Lina Dambrauskaitė and Irena Baranauskaitė.

In EuroBasket 2009, the Lithuanian women's basketball squad suffered a fiasco, just like the men's squad. The Lithuanian national team took 9–12 place after not reaching the knockout stage for the first time. After the European championship Algirdas Paulauskas returned to the Lithuanian squad once again.[17]

In EuroBasket 2011, Lithuanians showed signs of hope again, reaching the knockout stage, however there they were eliminated by the French national team 58–66 and took 7th place.[18] Because of that, Lithuania lost all the possibilities to qualify into the 2012 Summer Olympics, held in London. To this day, Lithuania women's national basketball team never participated in the Olympic Games, despite the several appearances in the World championships and successful European championships.

Tough times returned to the Lithuanian squad in EuroBasket 2013 where they took only 14th place and were unable to participate in the 2014 FIBA World Championship, held in Turkey.[19] By far, it is the worst performance for the national team.

Lithuania's national team qualified into EuroBasket 2015, which was held on 11–28 June in Hungary and Romania, after defeating the Great Britain national team 70–63.[20] The team's main aim was to qualify into the 2016 Summer Olympics. They began the journey successfully by taking the 2nd place in the second stage, though in the quarterfinal they were defeated by Belarus 66–68. Lithuanians then lost two more games while playing for 5-8th places and finished only 8th. Lithuania women's national team Olympic dream vanished once again.

Tournament record

European Championship

FIBA World Championship

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (page: 1)
  2. ↑ Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (page: 1)
  3. ↑ Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (page: 4)
  4. ↑ Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (pages: 29–31)
  5. ↑ "Krepšinis". Lietuvos sporto enciklopedija. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Istorija, LKF
  7. ↑ Algimantas Bertašius and Stanislovas Stonkus "Su Lietuvos vardu per Europą, per pasaulį" (2009 edition); page: 179
  8. ↑ Algimantas Bertašius and Stanislovas Stonkus "Su Lietuvos vardu per Europą, per pasaulį" (2009 edition); pages: 182–186
  9. ↑ Algimantas Bertašius and Stanislovas Stonkus "Su Lietuvos vardu per Europą, per pasaulį" (2009 edition); pages: 187–190
  10. ↑ Algimantas Bertašius and Stanislovas Stonkus "Su Lietuvos vardu per Europą, per pasaulį" (2009 edition); pages: 190–191
  11. ↑ Algimantas Bertašius and Stanislovas Stonkus "Su Lietuvos vardu per Europą, per pasaulį" (2009 edition); pages: 192–196
  12. ↑ Algimantas Bertašius and Stanislovas Stonkus "Su Lietuvos vardu per Europą, per pasaulį" (2009 edition); pages: 198–199
  13. ↑ Algimantas Bertašius and Stanislovas Stonkus "Su Lietuvos vardu per Europą, per pasaulį" (2009 edition); pages: 200–204
  14. ↑ Algimantas Bertašius and Stanislovas Stonkus "Su Lietuvos vardu per Europą, per pasaulį" (2009 edition); page: 187
  15. ↑ Algimantas Bertašius and Stanislovas Stonkus "Su Lietuvos vardu per Europą, per pasaulį" (2009 edition); pages: 208–210
  16. ↑ "Vilniuje iškilmingai atidengtas paminklas Lietuvos krepšiniui (nuotraukos, video)". lrytas.lt. Retrieved 29 August 2007.
  17. ↑ A.Paulauskas viliojamas sugrįžti į moterų rinktinę (Lithuanian)
  18. ↑ Buračas, Rokas. "Ašaros Lodzėje – lietuvės liks be medalių (2 video, foto, komentarai, statistika)". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  19. ↑ Buračas, Rokas. "Lietuvės Europos pirmenybes baigė nuskriausdamos Baltarusiją (komentaras, statistika)". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  20. ↑ "Lietuvos moterų rinktinė iškovojo kelialapį į Europos čempionatą (statistika)". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
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