AN HISTORIC DOUBLE DOUBLE: Jonquel Jones finished with 44 points and 22 rebounds yesterday as she led Bosnia and Herzegovina to an opening round 87-81 victory over Belgium in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers at the Mirza Delibašic Arena in Sarajevo.
By RENALDO DORSETT
Tribune Sports Reporter
rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
Jonquel Jones had the most dominant performance of her professional basketball career to lead Bosnia and Herzegovina to an opening round win in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers.
Jones finished with 44 points and 22 rebounds in her team’s 87-81 win over Belgium yesterday at the Mirza Delibašic Arena in Sarajevo.
The reigning WNBA MVP shot 14-26 from the field, 3-7 from three-point range and 13-14 from the free throw line.
Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue play in Group B with a matchup against North Macedonia at 1pm local time on Sunday, November 14.
Germany currently leads Group B on point differential after a lopsided 73-41 win over North Macedonia.
The second leg of the qualifiers will take place in 2022 when Bosnia and Herzegovina is slated to face Germany on November 24 and Belgium on November 27.
In 2023, they will face North Macedonia on February 9 and Germany on February 12.
A total of 30 countries are participating in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers.
Teams are divided into 10 groups, with each team playing the others in its group in home and away games, following a round-robin system over three windows in November 2021, November 2022 and February 2023.
The hosts of the next edition of women’s flagship event in Europe - Israel and Slovenia - are qualified for the Final Round directly, with 14 places reserved for the 10 group winners and the four best second-placed teams.
In order for the second-placed teams across all 10 groups to be ranked on a like-for-like basis, their results against the fourth-placed teams in the groups of four will not be taken into consideration. In Jones’ last national team appearance, she led Bosnia and Herzegovina to an historic 5th place finish and a spot at the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket last June. She was named to the tournament’s “All-Star Five” after leading the tournament in scoring and rebounding at 24.3 points and 16.8 rebounds per game. She shot 50 percent from the field, 33 percent from three and 82 percent from free throw line and also added 1.5 blocks per game.
The EuroBasket finish led Bosnia and Herzegovina to a spot in the FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournaments.
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