Elzbieta Trzeniewska (Poland):
I am very glad to win this game. Although we made lots of mistakes, we were able to win the game. It makes us very, very happy. We have one day off to relax.
Marlies Askamp (Germany):
I want to congratulate Poland because of their good play. If you look at our previous games, we lost because we couldn’t play well in the last five mins well. Now we have a chance to relax for the next game. İn the rest of the championship we would like to get the best results we can.
Arkaeiusz Koniecki (Head Coach Poland):
We had to win this game to reach the quarter finals. I am happy to win and I am upset because we won against a friendly team. Now I am going to make my plans for the next games. We still have a chance to reach the quarter finals, so we want to take adandage of it.
Olaf Stolz (Head Coach Germany):
First of all, congratulations to Poland. We had 4 games with Poland in this summer. It was a good chance to play with them before the tournament. They deserved to win today. We made too many mistakes. They got all offensive rebounds and scored from them. Chirstine Ishaque tried to stop Bibryzcka but she couldn’t be stopped because she played so well. It seems almost impossible to win both against Czech Republic and France, however we’ll try to keep our game for 40 mins not 35 mins.
After 2 losses, Poland finally opened their 2005 EuroBasket Women account with a win against Germany on Sunday in Bursa.
Poland, who grabbed the last competition spot through the additional qualifying tournament, looked tired in their first 2 contests which resulted in losses to Latvia and Czech Republic.
However, they found their legs against Germany, producing a key third quarter run to break open a previously close game.
Neither side distinguished themselves in a first half which featured a battery of missed shots.
Both sides have been poor shooting the ball so far in the competition. Germany made 34.8% of their field goal attempts in the first two games, while Poland have been even worse at 32.5%.
That didn't change in the opening 20 minutes as Germany shot 8/33 from the floor and Poland 11/36 (including 1/10 three-pointers).
The result was not pretty and it was Poland who clung onto a narrow lead at halftime, 27-23.
But the Polish managed to string together a small run at the start of the third quarter which effectively won them the game. They outscored Germany 11-2 in the opening 5 minutes of the third and by the end of the period were comfortably in front, 37-46.
With Agnieszka Bibrzycka (19 points and 7 rebounds) leading the charge in the fourth, Poland were able to hold off Germany for a 56-66 win.
Germany's loss, their third consecutive of the tournament, effectively ends their hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals.
Poland will target their final group game against Greece as a must win affair if they are to make the final eight.
