Spain defeats host Germany again to win bronze at women’s FIBA World Cup

BERLIN (AP) — Iyana Martín led Spain to the bronze medal at the women’s FIBA World Cup on Sunday with an 81-58 win over host Germany.

The 20-year-old Martín scored 22 points to give Spain, which didn’t qualify for the last World Cup, its third third-place finish in the tournament after 2010 and 2018.

The Spanish players looked sharper and faster throughout, with turnovers again an issue for Germany after the hosts had 25 in their semifinal defeat to France on Saturday. Germany had six in the first quarter alone and finished with 18 against Spain.

Frieda Bühner wiped away tears while the Spanish players hugged and danced in celebration at Berlin Arena.

“We have to take the pain with us to be better as individual players and as a team,” Leonie Fiebich said as she fought tears while talking to reporters and reflecting on the importance of the game.

“It’s unique, it happens only once in a career. I’m super thankful that we could be part of it, the team, the staff, the organization, everything all around it. It was one of the coolest experiences ever. I’ll be thinking of it for a long time,” Fiebich said

Germany had been looking for its first medal in the tournament on its second appearance as a unified country including its last time as host in 1998. East Germany finished fourth at the 1967 tournament.

It was Spain’s second victory over Germany after defeating the hosts by 30 points in their opening game – Spain’s biggest win over a European team and Germany’s heaviest defeat in the competition.

German team’s growth

Buoyed by enthusiastic home support, Germany recovered from its opening loss with increasingly impressive wins over Japan, Mali, South Korea and European champion Belgium. Germany was the first team in the tournament to keep France below 90 points with an 86-64 defeat in their semifinal.

“The growth has been very, very positive,” said Germany coach Olaf Lange, who had hailed German basketball’s “best day” after the win over Belgium.

“We’ve made good progress. Now we have to keep working on ourselves and use this as motivation for the future. We have EuroBasket coming up next year – we have to qualify first – and then the 2028 Olympics. We have to keep going. That’s our motto – keep going – and it doesn’t change today,” Lange said.

Future bright for Spain

Spain was dealt a shock defeat by Mali in its second game but beat Japan to top the group, then defeated Australia in the quarterfinals before a battling 76-66 loss to the United States in their semifinal.

After ending the tournament on a high, Spain is looking forward to a promising future after so many young players shone in the team. Martín, who scored 17 against the U.S. and finished with an average of 17.5 points across her five games, is already a team leader despite her young age.

“She’s amazing. She’s a very young player, but she always makes us play like amazing so for us she’s not young, she is like a veteran player,” the 24-year-old Raquel Carrera said of Martín while clutching the bronze medal around her neck.

Awa Fam, who is 20 years old, scored 17 points in Spain’s first win over Germany. She almost had a double-double in the second game with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Alicia Flórez and Elena Buenavida are both 22, and Helena Pueyo (25) is also likely be part of the squad at the next World Cup.

“They are really young players that can do something amazing in the next years,” Carrera said.

The United States won its fifth straight title with a 97-79 win over France in the final.

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