The German basketball players missed a surprise when they returned to the European Championship stage. In the first game of the preliminary round group C, the team of national coach Lisa Thomaidis had to admit defeat to the Vice European Champion France in Ljubljana with 50:58 (23:27) after a big fight. The best German thrower was Lina Sontag (10), on the other side Valeriane Vukosavljevic (11) collected the most points.
The German Basketball Federation (DBB) team started furiously with a 7-0 run, while the French countered with a 7-0 run. But the underdog stayed brave and ended the first quarter with a 16:11 lead.
In the second period, France played with more pressure, the next 7-0 run turned the game around for the first time (18:16). But the German players kept the match open and, despite being twelve points behind (23:35), they didn’t let themselves be shaken off – and eight minutes before the end they even reduced the score to one point (45:46). Then the French sprinted away decisively with nine points in a row.
The DBB selection is back in a EuroBasket for the first time in twelve years and is an outsider. In the next two group games on Friday against co-hosts Slovenia (6 p.m.) and on Sunday against Great Britain (12.15 p.m./both free of charge at MagentaSport), at least one win is required to advance to the knockout phase.
The four group winners advance directly to the quarter-finals. The two teams behind can also qualify for the round of the top eight in an intermediate round.