After their first win, they'll face the league's best offense

A week after our first win of the season, we’re heading to Munich. On Saturday, November 7, we’ll face TS Jahn Munich at 5:15 p.m. at the Große Jahnhalle. After five matchdays, the newly promoted team sits in eighth place with 6:4 points, while we’re in tenth place with 2:8 points. We haven’t won an away game yet this season. We want to change that on Saturday.

The 82–76 win over Rhein-Main showed what’s possible when we take control of a game right from the start. After seven minutes, the score was 20–6, and we never relinquished the lead until the final buzzer. Jada Smith had 31 points and 11 rebounds, Annika Heck scored 13 points, and Lina Lieckfeld, in her first start, scored 12. What we need to keep working on are turnovers: we had 19 in Bad Homburg and 20 against Rhein-Main.

That’s exactly what could cost us dearly in Munich. Head Coach Stavros Tsoraklidis’s team has scored 391 points in five games—more than any other team in the league—and averages a solid ten rebounds per game. The roster is very young; nine of the twelve players used are not yet 20. The oldest is the most important: Natalie Kleemann-Day, 36, averages 15.4 points and 9.2 rebounds. Maria Perner has made 16 of her 29 three-pointers—that’s more than half of Munich’s total three-pointers.

Munich has quickly made its mark in the new league. Last season, the team was promoted from the regional league undefeated; now it has already won on the road in Heidelberg and Stuttgart. Most recently, Munich lost 64–65 in Wasserburg; the game was decided at the free-throw line with six seconds left. At home, they beat Rhein-Main 89–65 and lost to Bamberg 79–89. On Saturday, Munich will play in its own arena for the first time in three weeks.

For us, that means: holding onto the ball, keeping Kleemann busy under the basket, and not letting Perner get an open shot from the three-point line. Anyone living in Munich or nearby can come cheer us on at the Große Jahnhalle at Weltenburger Straße 53. Everyone else can keep their fingers crossed for us from Jena.