The Malta U-16 girls’ team is in the final stages of their preparations for the FIBA Women’s Under-16 Eurobasket Division C tournament.
This year, the team heads to Gibraltar to face hosts Gibraltar, Albania, and Moldova in the opening stages with hopes of passage to the final stages on a high.
Coach Roderick Vella has named a squad of 12 players, and the team will fly out to Gibraltar on Sunday. Vella, who led Luxol’s youth women’s squad this past season, was appointed Women’s Under-16 national team coach earlier this year. Now, they hope to emulate the success of the senior women’s team, who performed admirably at the FIBA Women’s European Championship for Small Countries in Kosovo last month.
Malta will begin their Group B schedule with a match against Albania on Tuesday, followed by a game against hosts Gibraltar on Wednesday. Their last group game is against Moldova on Thursday. The first classification matches and semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday, with the final games taking place on Sunday.
Coach Vella, assisted by Matthew Borg and Nadia Vella, has expressed confidence in the team’s readiness and potential to compete strongly in the tournament.
Malta Squad
- Ylenia Ferrando (Starlites)
- Claire Portelli (Depiro)
- Kristie Sammut (Depiro)
- Eve Axisa (Luxol)
- Rebecca Fenech Pace (Luxol)
- Kelly Magro (Luxol)
- Lara Micallef (Hibernians)
- Gwen Carabott (Luxol)
- Shanice Farrugia (Luxol)
- Samira Deguara (Depiro)
- Ylenia Mangion (Depiro)
- Hannah Casaletto (Depiro)