“This is already too cruel. I don’t know why fate tests us like this. Just as we felt miserable after the wrong turn car at the end of the quarter-finals, which took away our win two days ago, we feel miserable even now, because the scalp of Germany was really within reach,” said coach Romana Ptáčková for Radiožurnál.
A significantly rejuvenated team achieved its best result from the EC since 2013, yet the tournament ended in tears. The victory in the duel with Germany was lost by the Czechs in normal playing time after Fiebichová’s shot with the horn, the referees previously returned the time by four tenths in the video, and after examining the fight between Stoupal and Brunckhorsta, they ruled out in favor of Germany.
Ptáčková believes that the player will toughen up the cruel ending she experienced in the future. “I just don’t know if four tenths of a second was enough for the basket to fall. I have enough reservations about it, the German player held the ball there for quite a while before kicking it out of bounds. Everything is all the more difficult because we thought the victory was already ours, but there was a change in the video,” admitted the coach of the Czech national team.
In overtime, the national team did not allow the Germans to score for three and a half minutes, but even its six-point lead did not lead to success. Again, Fiebich decided with two sixes. The Czechs had 1.6 seconds on the last shot, and Zeithammer’s three-point attempt failed. “The opponents had a brutal advantage on the rebound, we fought with it as much as we could,” said the coach.
“Even with extra time, we have seven losses, which means that we were able to keep the ball well in attack, but it is difficult to build high-quality shooting positions against such a large height advantage, it was very noticeable,” thought Ptáčková.
However, the Czech Republic also erased a ten-point deficit during the match. “But the Zeithammer duck stirred things up a lot and started to gain ground with that speed. We knew we had to take it that way. There was an amazing team performance again,” assessed the coach.
However, Kateřina Zeithammerová, the author of the twelve points, was very sad. “Luck didn’t favor us at all, on the contrary, the Germans took it by the handfuls. When we know that we could have been in the top four, now we have to fight for the fifth place, it’s rather a pity how we turned out,” said the Czech point guard.
“I really appreciate the fighting spirit we have and the heart we always put out there, but we were not favored in the matches in Ljubljana. It was one big emotional roller coaster. And it hurts terribly when we players on the field can’t influence it and the referees intervene,” pivot Natálie Stoupalová told ČTK.