Basketball World Cup: France too strong! Germany eliminated in semifinal

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Basketball World Cup: France too strong! Germany eliminated in semifinal.

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Despite the heavy defeat, the tournament is a historic success for the German national team: never before had a German women's team reached a World Cup semifinal. The squad also pulled off a surprise quarterfinal upset over reigning European champions Belgium, 93:74, and had reeled off four straight wins before that — including after that historic quarterfinal coup, as Focus Online reports.

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France's class and Gabby Williams decide the game

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The French — ranked No. 2 in the world and still unbeaten in the tournament — proved too composed in front of 12,650 fans, among them basketball icon Dirk Nowitzki. Gabby Williams in particular dominated the contest at will and finished as the game's top scorer with 22 points.

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After the first quarter, the French led by the narrowest of margins at 25:23; by halftime it was 45:38 for the Olympic silver medalists. From there the favorites' lead grew steadily — time and again, the French punished Germany's loose turnovers with fast breaks. Der Spiegel speaks of "too many simple mistakes" that prevented the semifinal upset.

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Sabally and Gülich can't keep pace

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Looking for German bright spots? Nyara Sabally and captain Marie Gülich each scored 12 points and battled hardest under the basket against the physical superiority. Leonie Fiebich knocked down her first two three-pointers before the offense stalled. In the final quarter, Emily Bessoir cut the deficit to 60:69 (35th minute), before France kept their composure and sailed home with the win.

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In eleven previous meetings, Germany had never beaten France — and this time was no different. With the 86:64 win, France conceded fewer than 90 points for the first time in the tournament, according to Sport.de — a fact that puts the German women's defensive effort in perspective.

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Bronze chance on Sunday

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After the semifinal exit, the focus turns forward: on Sunday, Germany plays in the third-place game for World Cup bronze. The opponent will be determined Saturday night in the second semifinal between Spain and record world champions the USA at Berlin's Uber Arena. According to Focus Online, a bronze medal would already be the first-ever World Cup medal for a German women's national team — Sport.de emphasizes: even with another loss, this is already the most successful World Cup run in DBB history.

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Want to watch the bronze medal game live? Tip-off is Sunday at the Uber Arena in Berlin. With Berlin as host city and the euphoria around the home World Cup, Olaf Lange's team has plenty of wind in its sails — women's basketball in Germany has already been transformed by this tournament, regardless of which medal they end up with.