Kaiserslautern’s Hazel Sanders wins the battle for the ball against a pair of Ramstein Royals in a Division I semifinal game at the DODEA European Basketball Championships in Wiesbaden, Germany on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
WIESBADEN, Germany – If the third time is the charm, then what is the fourth?
The Ramstein and Stuttgart girls basketball teams will find out Saturday as they square off for the Division I crown at the DODEA European Basketball Championships.
Stuttgart, which won the large schools regular season title with an 8-2 record that included 42-25 and 38-30 victories over the Royals in early December, then fell to Ramstein 29-25 in pool play Thursday.
Each team then won stirring semifinal victories Friday to advance to Saturday’s title matchup at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne.
Ramstein’s Feliciana Davis gets set to shoot Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in a Division I semifinal game at the DODEA European Basketball Championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern’s Vernesha Oliver scores after a steal to keep the Raiders close in a Division I semifinal game with Ramstein on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at the DODEA European Basketball Championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. The Royals’ Parker Ingram defends. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein’s Bralyn Jones helped her team to a Division I semifinal victory over Kaiserslautern on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in the DODEA European Basketball Championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein 57, Kaiserslautern 55: The Raiders did their best to try to avoid having the boys and girls finals an all Ramstein vs. Stuttgart affair but came up a basket short.
Bralyn Jones scored 20 points and Feliciana Davis added 17 as the Royals continually forged ahead by a few points, only to have Kaiserslautern – missing its top scorer (and transfer from Ramstein) Katya von Eicken – claw back in the game every time.
“Really huge kudos to them,” Ramstein coach Christina Hewitt said. “Big girls step up in big moments.”
Jones, who missed much of Thursday’s pool play victory over Stuttgart after tweaking her ankle early in the contest, and Davis played that role repeatedly for the Royals on Friday as well.
They helped counter the efforts of Kaiserslautern’s Marisa Branch – whose team-high 20 points included six 3-pointers – and Vernesa Oliver – whose steal and basket just before halftime had the Raiders down just 26-24. Another Oliver steal and basket with 6 minutes, 55 seconds to play gave Kaiserslautern one of its final leads of the game, 46-45.
Jones and Davis then helped the Royals pull ahead just enough to make a Raiders basket with 10 seconds to play not enough.
Hewitt said the Royals need to play their best against the Panthers.
“We have to clean up some things and protect the ball,” she said. “We need big players to step up in big moments.”
Stuttgart’s Ella Kirk gets a hand on the ball before SHAPE’s Jessie Moon can shoot it in a Division I semifinal at the DODEA European Basketball Championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Stuttgart’s Ella Kirk got the offensive rebound and then went up for a shot Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at the DODEA European Basketball Championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Stuttgart point guard Macayla Hines puts up a shot Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in a Division I semifinal game at the DODEA European Basketball Championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Stuttgart 38, SHAPE 31: The Panthers survived the Jessie Moon show with a balanced attack that only had one player – Ella Kirk – reach double figures.
Stuttgart coach Robin Hess rather wished to defense after the game, though.
“Tough, tough effort,” she said. “I’m really proud of them.”
That included guard Mia Snyder, tasked with trying to at least slow down Moon for much of the game.
At one point late in the first half, Moon hit a ridiculous 3-point shot on the run with Snyder right in her face the whole time. But when Snyder turned to Hess to get advice on how she could do better, Hess just smiled and shrugged.
“She’s a great player. She’s going to score points,” Hess said of SHAPE’s senior standout who scored 22 points. “There’s not much you can do sometimes.”
To counter that throughout the game, eight Panthers tallied points, including six who scored at least four.
Hess said she and her team are looking forward to the rematch with the Royals.
“We need to play the same game we played against them (Thursday), just with fewer mistakes,” she said. “It’s going to be a great game.”