Romania, right start in the preliminaries of the 2027 European Basketball Championship » Debut for a 16-year-old player
Article by David Istrate – Published on Wednesday, 12 November 2025 23:44 / Updated on Wednesday, 12 November 2025 23:46
Romania's national women's basketball team started the qualification campaign for the 2027 European Basketball Championship right. The tricolors won 75-62 in Cyprus, thanks to an excellent first half.
In the EuroBasket 2027 preliminaries, Romania was assigned to group C, along with Poland, Slovakia and Cyprus. With a new coach in the person of Cătălin Tănase, the women's basketball team debuted in this campaign on the ground of the Cyprus national team.
Romania, victory by 13 points in Cyprus » Next are the duels with Poland and Slovakia
Romania played very well in the first two quarters, managing to secure an 11-point advantage at halftime: 42-31. After returning from the locker room, there followed a sequence in which both teams scored extremely little and one in which the two opponents competed from an offensive point of view.
In the end, the tricolors prevailed 75-62 and climbed, for the moment, to first place in group C. Romania's leaders were Ana Vîrjoghe (12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists), Katy Armanu (11 points, 4 rebounds), Ștefania Cătinean (10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) and Gabriela Irimia (10 points, 8 rebounds).
On the other side, Marissa Pangalos (17 points, 5 assists), Veatriki Akathiotou (13 points, 5 rebounds), Eleni Pilakouta (12 points) and Tijana Raca (10 points) stood out.
The match in Cyprus marked the debut in the national jersey for Ioana-Vanessa Velcea, a 16-year-old player. She played almost 6 minutes and scored 2 points.
“Putting on Romania's jersey at the senior level is a great honor, a performance that I would not have thought I would experience at only 16 years old,” said Velcea, according to the official website of the Romanian Basketball Federation.
Romania still has two matches to play in this first window of EuroBasket 2027 preliminaries. On Saturday, November 15, Tănase's students will play in Sosnowiec, in Poland, and on Tuesday, November 18, they will receive the visit of Slovakia in Ploiesti.
The second qualification window will take place in March 2026.
