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Ankara's Hillevi Stenstrom, second from left, tries to block a shot by Rota's Yesenia Solis in opening-day Division III girls' action at the DODDS-Europe basketball championship tournament. Rota won the game 27-22.

Ankara's Hillevi Stenstrom, second from left, tries to block a shot by Rota's Yesenia Solis in opening-day Division III girls' action at the DODDS-Europe basketball championship tournament. Rota won the game 27-22. (Michael Abrams/S&S)

Ankara's Hillevi Stenstrom, second from left, tries to block a shot by Rota's Yesenia Solis in opening-day Division III girls' action at the DODDS-Europe basketball championship tournament. Rota won the game 27-22.

Ankara's Hillevi Stenstrom, second from left, tries to block a shot by Rota's Yesenia Solis in opening-day Division III girls' action at the DODDS-Europe basketball championship tournament. Rota won the game 27-22. (Michael Abrams/S&S)

Sigonella's Adrenne Moore, left, and Tracy Ewert battle Brussels' Kathleen Anderson for a rebound in Division III action at the DODDS-Europe basketball championship tournament. Anderson had 18 points and 10 rebounds in the Lady Brigands' 44-9 win.

Sigonella's Adrenne Moore, left, and Tracy Ewert battle Brussels' Kathleen Anderson for a rebound in Division III action at the DODDS-Europe basketball championship tournament. Anderson had 18 points and 10 rebounds in the Lady Brigands' 44-9 win. (Michael Abrams/S&S)

Incirlik's Tre Santiago, left, drives past Drake Pieper of Lajes in Incirlik's 37-28 win.

Incirlik's Tre Santiago, left, drives past Drake Pieper of Lajes in Incirlik's 37-28 win. (Michael Abrams/S&S)

Rota's Dale Parker, left, attempts to get a shot off against Ryan Bottesini and Braden Brower, right. Rota won the game 40-29.

Rota's Dale Parker, left, attempts to get a shot off against Ryan Bottesini and Braden Brower, right. Rota won the game 40-29. (Michael Abrams/S&S)

MANNHEIM, Germany — The top-seeded Rota boys and Brussels girls rolled to impressive victories Thursday as Europe’s smallest schools joined the rest of DODDS-Europe in the four-day basketball championships.

Rota laid a 56-22 eye-opener on Lajes in the 8:30 a.m. lid-lifter for Division III pool play, then downed fourth-seeded Brussels for the third time this season, 40-29, behind a full-court press that produced a dozen of Brussels’ 34 turnovers.

“But we didn’t convert them,” Rota coach Ben Anderson lamented after his Admirals ran their 2010 record against DODDS competition to 8-0.

Coaches, however, are rarely satisfied. The Admirals converted more than enough Brussels misfires to keep the Brigands at bay all the way. Rota’s press inflicted most of its carnage in the first half, as the Admirals built a 24-11 lead.

Even so, Brussels did not buckle. It clawed at the Admirals until the final buzzer.

“They try hard all the time,” said Rota’s sophomore All-Europe wing Tre’von Owens, who led all scorers with 22 points. “This is the third time we’ve played them and they played hard every time.”

Rota ensured itself of a berth in Friday’s 2:30 p.m. D-III semifinals. Brussels, which got seven assists from Alen Abazi, is to play Lajes at 9:15 a.m. Friday. A victory in that game will catapault it into the afternoon semis, too.

The Brussels girls were just as effective as the Admirals, beating fourth-seeded Sigonella 44-9.

The Jaguars’ shooting was off, but there was more to their problems than that. They had more turnovers in the first half, 15, than shots, 14.

In the meantime, 6-foot senior pivot Kathleen Alexander was putting up 12 of her game-high 18 points. Things were so out of hand that Anderson, who grabbed 10 rebounds, sat out the final seven minutes.

Sophomore guard Bria Yazzie added 15 points for Brussels, which got seven points and seven rebounds, all in the second half, from sophomore Sindi Shahu, who took over for Anderson in the paint.

Incirlik’s fifth-seeded boys, who lost their opener to Brussels 51-22 on Thursday, put on a demonstration of just how important defense and rebounding are in a come-from-behind 37-28 victory over No. 8 Lajes.

After trailing 20-16 at halftime, the Hodjas over the ensuing seven minutes grabbed 11 rebounds, nine of them off the offensive glass, and forced 10 turnovers to forge a decisive 17-4 run.

“At halftime, we talked about remaining focused,” said sophomore center Ivan Leonard, who pulled down two offensive and two defensive rebounds and scored four points during the decisive third. “We concentrated on boxing out and playing defense.”

Tre Santiago led Incirlik with 14 points.

Pool play continued Thursday in the Division I and II events, which began Wednesday.

In D-I, the top-seeded Patch girls, who stopped SHAPE 42-34 in Wednesday night’s late game, remained unbeaten with Thursday’s 48-26 conquest of Lakenheath and ensured themselves of a berth in Friday’s 7 p.m. semifinals, along with No. 4 Ramstein. No. 2 Wiesbaden grabbed a semifinal slot, collecting a 41-25 victory over defending champion Heidelberg to go to 2-0 for the tourney.

Among the big-schools boys, No. 1 Ramstein, the defending champion, rolled on, flattening Kaiserslautern 69-48 Wednesday night and Vilseck 51-40 Thursday. Meanwhile, No. 2 Heidelberg clinched its pool title and a 3-0 record with a 62-47 victory over No. 3 Patch Thursday afternoon. The Lions play a meaningless pool game against No. 9 SHAPE Friday before taking on the loser of Thursday’s late Ramstein-ISB game in Friday’s 8:30 p.m. semifinals.

In Division II, Bamberg’s top-seeded girls and No. 3 boys both remained unbeaten Thursday after victories over Bitburg. Bamberg’s girls escaped, 44-40, while their male counterpart rolled 55-44. Both qualified for Friday’s D-II quarterfinals.

Others ensured of reaching Friday’s D-II boys quarters are No. 1 Aviano, No. 2 Hohenfels and No. 8 AFNORTH. For the girls, No. 1 Aviano and No. 10 AFNORTH have clinched spots.

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