Turkey won for the fourth consecutive game at the expense of Italy to stay on track for next season's EuroBasket Women in Latvia.

Nevriye Yilmaz had 15 points and Turkey led from start to finish in a 63-55 Group B triumph in Chieti.

The Turks led by as many as 12 in the third quarter and were still in front at 45-34 following a three-pointer from Sariye Gökce.

A Simona Ballardini three capped a 7-0 run for the Azzurre and reduced the deficit to 45-41 late in the third quarter.

The Italians got no closer the rest of the way,  though, and fell to 2-2.

Turkey are one game clear of Poland (3-1), who won in Bosnia-Herzegovina on the night.

Saziye Karsli had 13 points and five rebounds for Turkey.

Kathrin Ress finished with 11 points and nine boards for Italy.

Nevriye Yilmaz, Turkey: "Italy is a very good team and we were here to play a tough game. We had a very good defence this evening and that helped us very much. We are happy of how the things went.  There are still too many games to play, nothing is still sure, but we believe in our qualification"

Ceyhun Yildizoglu, Turkey Head Coach: "We prepared this game a lot, we knew Italy was a good team.  We suffered their defensive pressure, but it was a good chance for increase our experience since we are a young team. It was a tough and hard game, but now, with this win, we are confident in qualification."

Giampiero Ticchi, Italy Head Coach: "We shot very bad in the first period, that was the key of the game.
Turkiye plays tough basketball, they control the rhythm and are very aggressive, congratulations to them.
Now we play another key game with Poland, we must win with 5 points of advantage.