Kalnina Earns Spot on Latvian National Team; Will Face Poland to Open FIBA European Women's Championship
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Rising junior Liga Astra Kalnina of the St. John Fisher College women's basketball team will represent her home country of Latvia in the U20 FIBA Women's European Championship as the forward was one of just 12 players selected to the final roster.
The action begins on Saturday, July 7th as Latvia takes on Poland, which is ranked 52nd in the world, in Sopron, Hungary. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:15 p.m. (EST). In five head-to-head matchups, the Latvian team owns a 3-2 overall record against Poland, however, the two teams have not faced off in international competition since 2010 when Latvia came out on top, 63-49. From there, the team takes on No. 14 Hungary at 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Sunday, July 8th before closing out group play on Monday, July 9th at 7:30 p.m. (EST) against No. 23 Croatia.
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The Latvian team, which is ranked 24th in the world according to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), has participated in the Women's European Championship 11 times since 2000 and finished third three times overall.
In all, 16 teams will play in four groups. Kalnina, along with her teammates, will play in Group C along with Poland, Hungary and Croatia. Group A is comprised of Germany, Russia, Serbia and Slovenia while Group B consists of France, Italy, Slovakia and Sweden. Group D contains Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, which has claimed back-to-back U20 championships.
Kalnina, who is the only Division III player on the Latvian roster, had a breakout season for the Cardinals in 2018 after producing 3.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in 14.5 minutes of action on average. In 26 appearances, Kalnina pulled down 11 rebounds or more in a game seven times including a career-high 15 boards on January 2nd in a win over Utica College.
Fisher had a banner year under first-year head coach
Melissa Kuberka as the Cardinals won the Empire 8 Regular Season Championship. Overall, the team produced a 21-6 record and played to a 15-1 mark in the Empire 8 standings. The Cardinals posted 14 consecutive wins during the course of the season and won 18 of their last 20 games.