Three test matches within just four days. An intensive program awaits the women’s basketball first division flippo Baskets BG 74 in the second half of the week. It starts with a closed match against league competitor GISA Lions SV Halle on Thursday at 6.45 p.m.
The game against Halle takes place in camera, as an elaborate setup for spectators, catering and VIP area cannot be realized on a weekday. flippo Baskets managing director Richard Crowder relies on the fans’ understanding: “We just can’t manage to take the measures necessary in Corona times in the short time we have between school sports, training and tippoff.”
With Halle comes an opponent who has changed his team a lot compared to the previous season. The Lions’ new head coach is an old friend: Peter Kortmann was already responsible for other Bundesliga clubs – including Braunschweig, Keltern, Bad Aibling and Chemnitz. There is also a reunion with ex-BGerin Klaudia Grudzien, who moved to the Saale a few weeks ago after a year in Italy.
Kortmann has to integrate a total of seven newcomers by the start of the season. Center women Candice White and Naheria Hamilton and power forward Darien Huff came from the USA. Guard Eilidh Simpson has a British passport. Karolina Stawinska from Poland joined the team. And finally, 19-year-old Meret Kleine-Beek completes the squad. She came to Halle from TuS Lichterfelde to begin her studies there. Given the many additions, it is clear that the lionesses’ expectations are relatively high before the season that begins at the end of October.
Göttingen’s coach Goran Lojo hopes that he has a wider squad available than the last one in Neuss. It was unclear at the beginning of the week whether Ivana Blazevic and Ruzica Dzankic are already fully resilient again. The 82:77 success against the second division team has definitely created self-confidence in the team, which should now also be shown against Halle. For the guests, things did not go optimally in the first public test match: In their home hall they lost 56:69 to league rivals TK Hannover in front of around 200 spectators.
The flippo Baskets will then continue on Saturday with a first-class tournament in Heidelberg. There they first meet the host SNP BasCats USC Heidelberg. In a possible game for third place or in the final, the Lojo team could meet BC Pharmaserv Marburg or the Rutronik Stars Keltern, who face each other in the second semi-final.
