Blue-and-white women still dreaming big despite EuroBasket setback

“Dare to dream” is the slogan for the 2023 EuroBasket, in which the Israel National Women’s Basketball Team showed grit, determination and a whole lot of heart.

Unfortunately, those key characteristics didn’t help the blue-and-white break a 32-year winless streak at the continental championships. However, there is no question that the Israelis are on the right path to success, in hopefully the not so distant future.

With a solid mix of youngsters and veterans, Sharon Drucker’s squad went through a process over the last few years of building a solid core, a base that could one day lead the team to the promised land. With that in mind, Drucker succeeded here many hadn’t.

Although Israel did not have to qualify for the tournament as it was selected as one of the hosts, the team defeated some solid competition during the qualification rounds. As well as beating one of the top national teams in Sweden, it also won a number of exhibition games against the likes of Germany and Slovakia.

During the weeks leading up to the tournament – which saw two groups of teams play this week in both Tel Aviv and Ljubljana – Drucker’s side came together as one solid unit. From team captain Eden Rotberg, who has played international hoops for a number of years, and 26-year-old veteran leader Daniel Raber, to youngsters Yarden Garzon, who recently completed her freshman year at nationally ranked Indiana University, and up-and-coming Eden Zipel, there was some high quality basketball among the players who would be representing the Star of David flag.

Newly minted Israeli Jennie Simms, who had played in the WNBA, veteran sharpshooter Alyssa Baron and center Alex Cohen were set to be instrumental in the team’s success or failure at this tourney.

However, despite that drive and desire, Israel came up short in front of its home crowd – falling to Europe’s No. 2 team Belgium by 49-points, coming up short to the continent’s sixth best team, Italy, by 20 points and succumbing to Czechia 61-52 without the injured Simms to finish off the group phase with an 0-3 record.

High expectations and a disappointing loss

Sure, the expectations were high and the team wanted to be on the right end of history, as a thoroughly disappointed Cohen explained, while injuries also played a part in the results at the end of the day.

“We had high expectations for ourselves and we showed a lot of heart, but it wasn’t enough,” said Cohen. “We’ve been practicing with Jennie for however long, preparing, and when you have a big part of your team go down, it is hard to overcome. Same with Jennifer Fleischer [who was ruled out of the tournament after breaking her leg in the leadup] 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, but I guess it was ours to take.”

Obviously Drucker and his crew wanted to break the three-decade-long drought in the worst way, but came up short against some top-level competition in the first two games, while the last of the trio was winnable but they just couldn’t get over the proverbial hump.

“We knew the situation going into the last game and Jennie was hurt and couldn’t play,” Drucker stated. “We had pride and we tried to give our best, it was a helluva 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, especially in this last game, these young girls came and watched our team and they were wonderful.”

Injuries are part of the game and Israel is still developing a proper pool of talent that can help it going forward. Depth is key for any club and the blue-and-white was a bit short in that department.

Putting the results aside for the time being, one of the huge accomplishments for Israel was the fact that local fans packed the arena for the games and the atmosphere for those contests were absolutely incredible. Crowds of this size, with families and young children, and especially with girls who haven’t had this type of opportunity in years to be able to see who could be their future athletic role models.

Hopefully this tournament, along with proper backing from the Israel Basketball Association, will encourage more and more young girls to get out of their homes and sign up and join a local basketball team. If that can be accomplished, then the sky’s really the limit and this tournament was a smashing success, save for the on-court results.

The most difficult part will be how the Women’s National Team can take the next step, which is something that Ducker didn’t shy away from, “This is the million-dollar question. The Israel Basketball Association gave us everything for this tournament. We saw our veteran and younger players playing in this intensity and against such power as they fought for every basket. We have that character in Daniel Raber and Alex Cohen, but there is also a size issue when you go against teams with five or bigger players; it’s not easy.”

“We want to develop Israeli women’s basketball and try to advance to the Eurobasket tournament not just because we are hosting, but we will be there,” continued Drucker. “Personally, I learned a lot during this time period in games we played against the likes of Sweden and Latvia, for example. I will sit with everybody on the team and explain what they need to do to improve and to put the bar as high as possible. I won’t say to them that this is their level and that’s it. No, I want them to get to the maximum that they can.”

Just as there has been opportunities in the past - whether it was the 2011 Eurobasket which also ended winless and was the last continental championship that Israel had featured in, or seeing the development of stars Shay Doron, Ornit Schwartz, Liron Cohen and Naama Shafir – the IBBA needs to capitalize on what it has right in front of it.

That will be the real test for women’s basketball in the country in the upcoming months and years. With games in the international windows in November and February for the national team, that will be the perfect chance for those fans who packed into the Drive-In Arena for the Eurobasket to return once again and see the blue-and-white in action. This would continue to grow the game that has the great potential to expand and hopefully turn that potential into reality.Everyone needs to dare to dream.

Teams like Belgium, Italy, Spain and Greece all have been top countries in the women’s game and have built up a tradition in Europe, while having players who participate in the Euroleague, which is something that no Israeli team is currently a part of.

There is more participation of youth in women’s basketball in these countries and that is something that Israel must emulate.

That has to be a priority for Israel Basketball should ot want to be able to grow and compete in the game. For sure, without that there will be no forward movement and no positive results to show after having hosted such a high-level competition.

Not advancing to the knockout rounds or to Slovenia is a real disappointment for Israel, as it should be. But without having that disappointment, there would be no drive to be able to advance to the latter stages down the road.

Something very encouraging for the blue-and-white is the fact that a player of Raber’s stature is upset after having scored 20 points, with nine rebounds and six steals, will only set Israel up for more future success.

“Despite my performance, we lost, so I can’t be too happy,” said Raber. “I feel that we gave 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. Losing here bothers me a lot. We are all fighting, we spit blood and battled and all of us can take that feeling into the next game. We will work hard over the summer to get to the next level.”

The bottom line is that one needs to know how to lose in order to know how to win.

That’s what Drucker and his team were able to accomplish; they knew how to lose and to accept the losses, which will be a lesson for the next time the team will be up against top teams and should spur them forward to take that next step.

“I learned that the next day isn’t the same and it’s a new day and a new game,” Raber said. “We have to play more at the level of play that we experienced here during the year. Belgium played like magic and that is where we need to go.

That’s exactly what the catchline “Dare to Dream” means. Take that next step, strive to improve, use other national teams as a benchmark and try to reach for the stars – because in sports, anything is possible.