Preparatory women's basketball tournament: Czech Republic – Turkey, May 25, 2023, Istanbul. On the left, Eliška Hamzová from the Czech Republic.
Istanbul – The Czech women's basketball players won the first preparatory game before the June European Championship at the tournament in Turkey over the home selection 83:70. The best scorer chosen by coach Romana Ptáčková was Natálie Stoupalová with 17 points, not even Tilbe Senyüreková's 19 points were enough for the home team. The national team will play a Friday duel with Germany in Istanbul, a day later they will challenge Latvia.
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“For me, great satisfaction and not only from the point of view that we just arrived today,” said Ptáčková in a press release. “The line-up was also combined because we want to involve all the players. Today we had a very young team, including Emma Čechová and Dominika Paurová. We performed very well,” added the coach, who let Tereza Vyoralová, Veronika Voráčková and Pamela Therese Effangová rest.
The Czechs succeeded on the same day they flew to Istanbul. The tournament program was changed due to Sunday's 2nd round of presidential elections in Turkey. The team traveled with 14 players, Julia Reisingerová was missing, for example, who excused herself from participating in the European Championship due to heel inflammation.
“I didn't expect that we would play such a match on the day of the flight. It took us some time to adapt. I'm glad we managed it. I didn't expect it to go so well,” Stoupalová pointed out. “It's our first match, we played gradually. Before the match, we talked with the girls that it would be difficult to get moving, but I think we managed it great,” she added.
Coach Ptáčková's team was in the lead for most of the game and built a four-point lead by halftime. After the break, the Czechs increased the difference by 11 points (50:39), but the home team managed to equalize in the third quarter. But in the final part, the Czechs improved their defense, won it 23:10 and eventually triumphed by thirteen points.
“We had a problem with their five-pointer (Senyürek), where we tried three types of defense. This will improve until we play together, if someone falls in defense, we will help each other more. We still have a lot to work on. The coach always warned us that we need to calm down the game. Although we lost a big lead, we took care of it in the end,” she added Stoupalová.
Basketball players will also play preliminary matches in the Czech Republic. From June 1 to 2, they will face Great Britain in Prague and Hradec Králové, and on June 7 and 8 they will challenge Slovakia twice. The European Championships will take place from June 15 to 25, the Czechs will challenge Israel, Italy and Belgium in the basic group in Tel Aviv.
Preparatory tournament for women's basketball in Istanbul:
Turkey – Czech Republic 70:83 (20:23, 36:40, 60:60)
Most points: Senyüreková 19, Uzunová 13, Günerová 12 – Stoupalová 17, Čechová 14, Březinová 9. Fouls: 17:24. Free throws: 18/14 – 13/12. Triples: 8:9. Rebounds: 36:30.
