Germany shock Serbia, take big step toward Olympics

BELEM (Brazil) - The inaugural game of the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Belém brought a big surprise, as Germany upset Serbia, 73-66, to nab a crucial win that could send them to their first-ever Olympic Games.

Guided by stout defense, dominance on the boards, powerful paint attack and timely outside shots, Lisa Thomaidis’ squad found a way to prevail in a breathless finish at Arena Guilherme Paraense on Thursday.

 

Turning Point: Despite Germany leading most of the way, Serbia managed to erase a 15-point deficit and take a 63-59 lead with 2:24 left in regulation.

However, Germany regained their composure and closed the game on a 14-3 run.

 

 

TCL Player of the Game: Leonie Fiebich led the way and scored 9 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter, including a clutch three-pointer when Germany had relinquished the lead. She shot 6-10 from the field, including 3-5 from beyond the arc and contributed 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks and a pair of assists.

 

Satou Sabally added 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists, while her sister, Nyara, dropped a massive double-double of14 points and 17 rebounds with 3 blocks.

 

Satou, playing through discomfort on her shooting shoulder, put the team on her back down the stretch and scored a pair of hard-earned layups to recover the lead.

Marie Guelich had 10 points and 6 rebounds, while fellow starter Svenja Brunckhorst only had 3 points, but they came on a late three-pointer that put the game away for her country.

Stats don't lie​: Germany dominated the rebounding battle from the jump and finished with an impressive 52-39 edge.

They also guarded the three-point line masterfully, with Serbia missing their first 10 attempts and finishing just 6-27 from downtown.

While their shooting from the field cooled off in the second half (along with 19 turnovers), they still finished 20-26 at the free-throw line. Serbia got 13 points and 4 rebounds from Angela Dugalic, while Yvonne Anderson chipped in 8 points and 7 assists. Jovana Nogic (12 points) was their only other player in double digits on a night where they shot 30.8 percent from the field.

Bottom Line​: Germany are the only nation in the tournament that has never qualified for the Olympic Games. In a tournament where three of the four participants will earn a berth in Paris 2024, the victory puts them in an excellent position to achieve the feat and make history.

Two more games against Brazil and Australia will maybe confirm the potential of this generation of women’s basketball. This couldn’t come at a better time for Germany, as they’re also set to host the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in 2026.

They said: “That was huge for our team. Serbia is a team that has been here before. We’re absolute neophytes when it comes to the situation, so we knew the lack of experience was going to possibly play a part. I thought our players were warriors. Came out, and executed the game plan with perfection on the defensive end. We knew Serbia weren’t going to lay down and they were going to have some fight in them. I just think it shows a lot about our team to be able to weather the storm like we did and come up with huge shots and huge stops when we needed to and come out with the victory. So happy for them, happy for this team and proud of the work they put in to get to this point” - Germany head coach Lisa Thomaidis.

“This is new for us. No one in this team has been in a situation like this. Everybody was a bit nervous before the game, which is normal, but we came out with one goal, and we achieved it. They came back in the fourth quarter, but we stuck to our plan, we stuck to our strength and figured it out. It was a really big step for us as a team and I hope we can continue to build on that and the next 2 games.” - Germany shooting guard Leonie Fiebich. 

“The first quarter we didn’t have any urgency and you saw in the second (half) we got back from a 15-point lead. It’s just a lack of urgency, lack of toughness. We have it in us. This is a big tournament, and this is for the Olympics, so everyone is going to want to go.”

“We knew we were down. We realized what this is for, and we started pressuring them. That was the main key and we got rebounds and made shots.” - Serbia power forward Angela Dugalic.

“After a terrible first quarter and first half, we can say this is not the way to play against a team like Germany that already had a lot of quality, but with the addition of the Sabally sisters from November this is a totally team. A team that can make very serious things in the future. We definitely didn’t do anything the way we generally do things. As I said, in the second half we changed a few things, the way of thinking, of approaching the game, of playing defense and we got back. We were leading in the key moments but simply the first half was so terrible that they punished us, and we couldn’t win this game.” - Serbia head coach Marina Maljkovic.

 

FIBA