MANNHEIM, Germany – The Bitburg Lady Barons, riding a 12-point outing by Melissa Menschel and a defense which held second-seeded AFNORTH to just eight points in the second half, downed the Lady Lions 24-20 Wednesday evening to claim the Pool B title at the European Division II basketball tournament.Bitburg, seeded ninth here after completing the regular season with a 2-12 record, matched that season-long victory total on the first day of the D-II tournament. In their first pool-play outing on Wednesday, the Lady Barons dumped Naples, 36-24.Menschel scored 10 points to lead Bitburg in that game; Brandy Oliver added seven points and Lamonica Williams six.Bitburg is to face winless Marymount at 2:45 p.m. Thursday at Tompkins Barracks in Schwetzingen as the event launches single-elimination play which culminates in Saturday’s championship game at noon at the Benjamin Franklin Village Sports Arena here.AFNORTH, whose top three scorers combined for a mere 12 points against the Bitburg defense, will play the loser of Wednesday’s late game between Black Forest Academy and the American Overseas School of Rome at Tompkins at 4 p.m. Thursday.The Lady Lions finished second in Pool B with a 1-1 mark after beating Naples, 34-25, on Wednesday. Naples, 0-2 in the pool, is to face the Pool E champion, the winner of Wednesday’s late game between fifth-seeded Mannheim and sixth-seeded Vicenza, at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Tompkins Barracks.

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