Bulgaria, next stop for the women’s team on the way to Eurobasket

The Spanish women’s basketball team faces this Saturday against Bulgaria in Samokov (6:00 p.m. in Spain) its second match in the qualifying phase for the Eurobasket 2027, after debuting with a tight victory against the Czech Republic.

The selector, Miguel Mendezassured that her team can and must “do much better” after the long-suffering victory against the Czechs on the first day of the qualifying phase and, to this end, she appealed to all her players to take a step forward.

“We need more responsibility from everyone on the offensive side as well, which is not limited to one player taking a lot of shots, because it is not what we want, it is not what I want in my teams. We need more numbers not only in points, but in rebounds, in assists,” said the coach.

Spain will face Bulgaria at the SamElyon Arena in Samokov, which currently leads group J after its bulky victory against Croatia (91-74) and the main threats will be the powerful interior Khaalia Hillsmanauthor of 24 points and 29 efficiency, and the threat of Borislava Hristova -28 points against the Croatians-; two old acquaintances of the Endesa Women’s League.

Against the Czechs, the team focused on taking advantage of its interior players in the paint, such as Raquel Carrera, Paula Ginzo or María Araújo. But in the next duel the game in the zone and mastery of the rebound will be the keys to the game.

“They scored a lot, we have to bring them down from those numbers, we cannot let them repeat the same game because otherwise we will suffer. The game has to get closer to our team play,” Méndez declared before traveling to Bulgarian lands.

Spain arrives at the meeting with the 14 calls available -Méndez will have to rule out two for the match- after beating the Czech Republic by two points last Tuesday at the Palacio de los Deportes in Oviedo. A triumph suffered and worked, in which the young base once again stood out Iyana Martinauthor of 18 points (eleven of them in the last quarter).

A match in which the best version of the team was not seen, very far from the colorful and collective game that shone during the World Cup last September, but after only a couple of days of training, Miguel Méndez trusts that the team will offer a better version in the next matches.

‘The Family’ He will travel this Friday on his journey first through the city of Samokov (Bulgaria) and then through Croatia, where this window will close next Tuesday.