“Czech Republic Defeats Germany 56-51 in Preparatory Women’s Basketball Tournament in Istanbul”

The best scorer of the winning team was Emma Čechová with 10 points and she also reigned in the team statistics with six rebounds. With six assists, Veronika Voráčková was the best in the whole game, adding eight points. Even the performance of Emily Bessoir, who recorded a double double thanks to 18 points and 13 rebounds, did not help the Germans to win. Their new coach Lisa Thomaidis experienced an unsuccessful debut on the bench.

“Compared to yesterday, the German women were much tougher, they were even taller than Turkey. This made it a little more difficult for me under the basket, but otherwise I always tried to keep my hand in front of the player so that the pass did not go to her, and sometimes I succeeded. In general, for it was harder for me, maybe also because I played more minutes,” said 18-year-old center Čechová.

“The last time I played two games in a row was probably in the European Round of 18 last summer, when there are even three games, just like here. I took a nap in the afternoon and it was fine. It felt like I couldn’t at all at the end, but it wasn’t nothing terrible,” Čechová added.

The Czech team did not start the game well, and Germany took an 8-2 lead with an eight-point streak. Although he took the lead for the second time in the game, he lost 17:18 after the first quarter. But Gabriela Andělová’s three-pointer at the beginning of the second half turned the situation around for the Czech Republic, and since then the opponents have not let their opponents take the lead.

“In the beginning, we had to play, get up to speed and figure out how to defend them. Maybe the German women were even more lucky, then they didn’t hit threes anymore. Sometimes the player got away from me a little, so I was afraid, but my blocks came out well, which saved me at the last moment,” Čechová added.

At the turn of the half of the match, they led by eight points, but the Germans managed the following passage with a ratio of 10:3 and reduced the deficit to one point. However, the Czech women’s basketball players bounced back to a difference of eight points, and the opponents in the end only mitigated the loss.

“It’s certainly a nice win. It was a different match than yesterday, much tougher and more dynamic. But the players showed that they can deal with it,” said assistant coach Petr Treml.

“We knew about their shooters, unfortunately at the beginning of the match they remained free, but then the intensity increased significantly. It was very tough on both sides, the referees let it go, but it certainly didn’t hurt the game. On the contrary, it got us into the game. There were a lot of losses , but it was caused by the defense on both sides, which was far more intense than yesterday.”

He praised Cechová’s performance. “In both games, and especially today, they were dominant mainly in the defensive half, which is gratifying. He still has a lot to do, he needs to get stronger, stronger. It’s even more great that he is able to assert himself at this level at this age.” said Treml.