Turkey's women's basketball team to compete at 2016 Olympic qualifiers

Turkey's women's national basketball team have defeated Russia 68-66 Saturday at the EuroBasket women's 2015 tournament and have been ranked fifth in Europe, which gives them the chance to compete in qualifications for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Russia took the lead in the first quarter of the Budapest match at 17-15 and kept its good performance as it led the game with nine points in the second quarter and two points in the third quarter.

Russia jumped out to an early lead in the extra session, but Turkey's Olcay Çakır's three-pointer with 44 seconds remaining tied the game at 66-66. With seconds remaining in overtime Işıl Alben cut to the basket and finished with a lay-up to give Turkey a 68-66 win in thrilling fashion.

"First of all, I congratulate my players for the character that they showed," Head Coach Ekrem Memnun said after the game. "We were trying to create a new team. We started at the beginning, and we improved throughout the tournament."