Analysis
How Spain went 9-0 to win EuroBasket Women 2013
Seeded in pot 4, Spain won all nine games in France. A data-led look at the defence, the margins and Sancho Lyttle’s MVP tournament.
Spain arrived in France as a pot 4 team. They had qualified only as runners-up of qualification Group D, behind Sweden, which is why the draw placed them with Russia — the defending champions — in Group B. Sixteen days later they left Orchies as the only unbeaten team, with nine wins from nine games and the country’s second European title, twenty years after the first in 1993.
The numbers behind 9-0
Across nine games Spain scored 661 points and conceded 518, a +143 differential, or almost 16 points per game. They led the tournament in scoring (73.4 points per game) and assists (15.8 per game), but the more revealing figure is at the other end: opponents averaged just 57.6 points. Six of the nine opponents were held under 60.
Only two games were decided by single digits. The first was the opener against Russia (77-72), where Alba Torrens scored 30 points and Spain had to survive a 24-18 Russian fourth quarter. The second was the final itself, won 70-69. Everything in between was comfortable: a 36-point win over Slovakia, 24 points against Sweden, and a 61-48 win over Turkey that settled first place in second-round Group E.
Lyttle’s complete tournament
Sancho Lyttle was named MVP after leading every player in the competition in points (18.4), rebounds (11.1) and steals (2.9) per game, while also ranking fourth in blocks. Leading a major tournament in three categories at once is rare, and it explains why Spain could defend aggressively without losing the rebounding battle. Torrens joined her in the All-Tournament Team after averaging 16.2 points, fourth in the scoring table.
A path that got harder at the right time
The structure of the event helped a deep team. Because second-round groups carried over results between teams from the same first-round group, Spain started Group E already holding wins over Italy and Sweden. That cushion meant the 61-48 win over Turkey decided the seeding rather than survival, and Spain met the Czech Republic (fourth in Group F) in the quarterfinal, winning 75-58, before an 88-69 semifinal over Serbia.
Explore every game in the Spain team page, or compare Spain with any other side in the team comparison tool.