Basketball
Full house sees Germany grab first World Cup win since 1998
BERLIN (Germany) - A win against Mali on Monday will see Germany advance to the Final Phase of the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup after they got off the mark with a vibrant win against Japan. After the shock of a heavy opening night loss to Spain inside Berlin Arena, it was the perfect response in front of another capacity crowd - this time at the Max-Schmeling Halle.
It was party time as the fans revelled in seeing a rejuvenated Germany side sweep past Japan 74-58 to claim their first win in the competition in 28 years.
"It's so nice to play here because the gym is a little smaller, it's a nice atmosphere", said Lina Sontag after the game. "It's amazing to see that after the games yesterday, the fans are still showing up, they are still loud and the atmosphere was the best honestly. When we had a run, the fans just kept us going and going."
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N/A"We wanted this win so badly", added Alexandra Wilke.
"The atmosphere was crazy. Like already yesterday it was crazy to play in this kind of arena with the home crowd. I don't even know how to put this into words. But today it was even... I mean, the gym is a bit smaller, but the fans were like... I don't know, I just heard the fans the whole game."
Of course, Germany played a whole different game, bouncing back from the loss against Spain in style.
"Obviously it was a different game today", continued Wilke. "And it just gives you so much energy. Like, you know, I had goosebumps running on the court. Like I was just running and I heard the fans and I got goosebumps."
Despite losing playmaker Alexis Peterson to injury, the home side shrugged off the setback. They received a standing ovation on the buzzer after a vibrant display put their tournament fate back in their own hands. Frieda Buhner and Nyara Sabally led the way with 19 and 18 points respectively in a tale of contrasting three-point shooting fortunes.
Germany sunk their best ever tally of 7 from long-range but just 24 hours after breaking the World Cup record for threes, Japan went 3 of 27.
FIBA
