Israel fell to the Czech Republic 61-52 on Gameday 3 of the 2023 FIBA Women’s EuroBasket on Sunday evening, ending its campaign winless.

Israel had everything to play for in the game, needed to win by at least 12 points to advance to Monday’s play-in after Belgium defeated Italy 72-64 early in the day. However, with star Jennie Simms ruled out prior to the tipoff with an ankle injury, it took more than five minutes for the Blue & White to score its first bucket, through Yarden Garzon, with Israel trailing by 9 points after the Czechs scored the first 11 points of the game. Captain Eden Rotberg replaced Lior Garzon midway through the first quarter and made an immediate impact on the scoreboard, as did Alyssa Baron with a 3-pointer, to get the home team within 6 points. Although the Czech team got the lead out to as many as 10 points, a determined layup from Rotberg on the buzzer brought the margin back to 8 points, with the Czech Republic leading 19-11 after 10 minutes.

Daniel Raber with a score under the basket and Eden Zipel with a 3-pointer got the first baskets of the second quarter and Israel was within 3 points, forcing Czech coach Romana Ptackova to call a timeout to steady her team. The teams then continued to trade buckets, until the Czech Republic started to get away from the home team, with Veronika Vorackova scoring 8 points in the first half. However, late buckets to Raber – who led all scorers with 12 points at halftime – ensured that there would be no blowout, with the Czechs taking a slender 32-30 lead into halftime.
The teams again traded baskets at the start of the third quarter. When Raber scored her third bucket for the quarter, scores were level at 38-38 halfway through the term. When Yarden Garzon scored two free throws with a little under three minutes left in the quarter, Israel led 42-41 and the crowd was so loud that on the next play the Czech team committed a 24-second violation. However, a Vorackova 3-pointer and jump shot put the Czechs ahead 46-42 at the end of the third quarter.

Raber continued the fightback with the first basket after the break, bringing Israel again within 2 points. Although the Czechs got out to a 5-point lead, a strong Zipel layup got Israel to within 3 points again with 5 minutes to go in the game. Although the required margin to advance was all but out of reach, the Israeli team continued to play hard for the win. Although Renata Brezinova scored a buzzer beater with a little under four minutes to go to get the lead out to 5 points again, Baron scored another 3-pointer to bring the margin back to just 2 points again with 3:36 remaining in regulation. However, Israel’s fifth foul for the quarter shortly after sent Brezinova to the line, scoring both free throws to put the Czechs up 53-49 with three minutes remaining. Zipel hit another 3-pointer with under a minute remaining to get Israel to within two points. However, an Eliska Hamzova and-1 play guaranteed a Czech victory, the final margin 9 points.

Vorackova (16 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block), Brezinova (14 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist) and Hamzova (10 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal) were in double-figures for the winners, while Raber (20 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and 6 steals), Rotberg (8 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal) and Zipel (8 points) led the scoring for Israel.

“We knew the situation going into the game and Jennie [Simms] was hurt and couldn’t play,” Israeli coach Sharon Drucker said after the game. “We had pride and we tried to give out best, it was a hell of an experience to play eight high level games over the past five weeks. We won’t solve the Israeli basketball problem immediately, but we wanted to give the fans a gift, these young girls came and watched our team and they were wonderful.”
“We lost, so I can’t be too happy,” Raber said after her best on court performance. “I feel that we have everything, but it wasn’t enough. I hope we can take these games to the ones we have in November and February and look even better.

“I feel like we all came today that we understood what to do and how aggressive we came in,” Raber continued. “We had this mindset and it wasn’t enough, but the atmosphere was great and we want to be able to have this going forward.
“It bothers me a lot,” Raber said when pushed on the feeling after the loss, despite her individual performance. “We are all fighting, we spit blood and bothered us and all of us, we can take that feeling to the next game and we will work hard over the summer to get to the next level.”

“We had high expectation for ourselves and we showed a lot of heart, but it wasn’t enough today,” Cohen (4 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 1 block) said. Of the loss of Simms prior to the game, Cohen said, “We’ve been practicing with her for however long preparing and when you have a big part of your team go down – same with Jennifer Fleischer [who was ruled out of the tournament after breaking her leg in the leadup] – she went down and Lior Garzon [whose preparation was interrupted by a foot injury in the second practice game against Slovakia], it changed a big dynamic of our team. So we sure missed them out on the court today, but I guess it was ours to take today.”

“We’re so happy,” Brezinova said after the game. “It was tough and we didn’t play so good. First quarter was quite good, but after we started to be crazy and it wasn’t a really nice game, but we won it.”

“It felt great, obviously,” Petra Holesinska (3 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist) said. “It was really tough. We didn’t play great today, we didn’t play great against Belgium [on Friday, an 84-41 loss]. But it’s important to win when you’re not playing great. Obviously, everyone can win when they’re making shots, when their offense is flowing, but it was really important for us to get the win.”

In Group B’s earlier game, Belgium defeated Italy 72-64 on the back of an 18-10 last quarter. In Group A’s games, Montenegro defeated Latvia 61-58 – meaning that the Latvians are now eliminated from the tournament – while Spain beat Greece 76-60.

Belgium and Spain finish top their respective groups and are rewarded with a trip straight to the final 8 in Slovenia, while on Monday in Tel Aviv, Montenegro takes on Italy (21:00 IDT / 14:00 EDT) and in the earlier game the Czech Republic plays Greece (18:00 IDT / 11:00 EDT), with the winner of each game taking the final tickets to quarterfinals.