Every beginning is hard: VIMODROM Baskets Face a Challenge After a Week of Practice

On Sunday, September 6, 2026, we played our exhibition game on the road against the BG74 Veilchen Ladies Göttingen—and were defeated 58–84. At first glance, the score seems lopsided, but it needs to be put into perspective: It was only our first week of training together this season, with a roster that’s just starting to come together. And with Annika Schwarz and Annika Heck out due to illness, we were missing two key players from last season’s core lineup.

The course of the game reflected exactly that. In the first quarter, we kept pace, heading into the first break trailing 12–19—not an ideal start, but a deficit we could work with. In the second quarter, we really turned it on and scored 24 points—our best quarter of the day—but we had to watch as Göttingen also stepped up their game, and the deficit grew to 36–42 by halftime. After that, we visibly ran out of steam: In the third quarter, we managed only 10 points, while the home team pulled away with 21. The fourth quarter followed a similar pattern at 12–21—the outcome had long since been decided, but we kept working until the final buzzer.

Two players stood out for us: Jada Smith and Elza Bieriņa each scored 21 points, accounting for more than two-thirds of our total scoring, and both played the full 40 minutes. Both also hit three three-pointers each—a true ray of hope on an otherwise difficult afternoon. Lisa Hoppe, our young player from Chemnitz, also made a strong impression in her just over twelve minutes on the court: 9 points on 60 percent shooting from the field, plus a perfect free-throw percentage.

Overall, we made only 26 percent of our field goals—against a Göttingen team that, even at 40 percent, wasn’t shooting exceptionally well but remained significantly more consistent. Our 74 percent free-throw percentage, on the other hand, was a real bright spot and shows that the fundamentals are there. There was clearly room for improvement on the boards: With 45 rebounds total, we trailed significantly behind the hosts’ 56, 18 of which were offensive rebounds that created second-chance opportunities for them. Our 17 turnovers also didn’t help in a game that was already physically demanding.

But we’re putting all of this into perspective: Every beginning is difficult, and after just one week of training together with a largely new roster, this result was to be expected. The positive signs—especially the strong second quarter and the performances by Smith, Bieriņa, and Hoppe—show what we can build on.

There’s hardly any time to catch our breath: Our preseason continues as early as Wednesday, when we’ll be visiting Medikamente per Klick Bamberg Baskets. Until then, our focus is on continuing to train, getting the two injured players back to health, and gradually getting into shape for the start of the new 2nd DBBL South season.

Minutes and points at a glance: Inga Ruppe 11:04 minutes, 0 points; Elza Bieriņa 40:00 minutes, 21 points; Jenna Rosanke 12:52 minutes, 0 points; Jada Smith 40:00 minutes, 21 points; Hannah Biwersi 30:35 minutes, 5 points, Lisa Hoppe 12:28 minutes, 9 points, Stella Nwaobi 18:45 minutes, 0 points, Laura Thiele 36:25 minutes, 2 points.