Latvia picked up their second successive EuroBasket Women victory in Bursa on Saturday, putting together a strong fourth quarter to outlast Germany 77-67.
Germany, who lost their opening contest against Greece on Friday, made the game a contest, but Latvia proved to be too strong down the stretch.
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Ieva Kublina
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Latvia guard Anete Jekabsone was the architect of her side's opening day win against Poland, and she was once again her team's best player, racking up 25 points and 8 rebounds.
The key period for the Latvians was the opening 7 minutes of the fourth quarter.
Germany, who were within 3 points (54-51) after 30 minutes, refused to go down quietly, until Latvia strung together a 14-4 run to put the game out of reach.
Jekabsonse got some valuable help from Ieva Kublina in that key stretch.
The 193 cm center displayed her considerable defensive talents in her 31 minutes on court, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking 5 shots, including 3 in a row on one German possession.
However, it was Kublina's offensive contribution which proved to be the difference and she scored 10 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Latvia opened the final period with a steal and fast break bucket from Gunta Basko to spark their winning effort. When Kublina capped the run with a three-pointer at the 37 minute mark, Germany trailed 68-55 and there was no way back into the game.
Germany, who were led by Linda Froelich's 25 points, will be looking to open their account with a win on Sunday against Poland.
Latvia, having beaten Germany and Poland, will be looking to make a mark on Sunday as they take on favourites France.
Raivo Otersons (Latvia Coach):
Germany played much better than yesterday. It was a hard game. We scored our opportunities and fast-breaks. It was a very important game and we are happy that we won.
Anete Jekabsone (Latvia):
As our Coach says Germany has good physical and tall players. That’s why we had to defend well. No:13 (Linda Frölich) is a good shooter, so we had to guard her. In the last minutes we got all the important rebounds and we played well as a team.
Olaf Stolz (Germany Coach):
First of all I want to congratulate Latvia. In the first half we had lots of problems in transition and we missed a lot of easy shots. It was very hard to get the control after we fell behind. Actually the score was very close for a long time but we couldn’t play because of Latvia’s great offense. They hit 72% of their shots in the paint, so it got very hard to win .
Linda Fröhlich (Germany):
We couldn’t hit our shots. They played very smart. They took advantage of our mistakes. I think that it was a good game.We played good but it wasn’t enough to win the game.
