Hurtful loss in Bourges

BOURGES BASKET - SOPRON BASKET 76-65 (10-21, 19-18, 21-14, 26-12)
Bourges

Bourges Basket: Ouvina 2, Michel -, Ayayi 23/9, Godin 2, Plouffe 14 Sub.: Tchatchouang 14, Sharp 8/6, Johannes 8, Chartereau 5/3

Sopron Basket: Fegyverneky -, Turner 17/6, Crvendakic 10/6, Milovanovic 20/12, Langhorne 8 Sub.: Jovanovic 10/3, Salvadores -, Dubei -, Weninger -

Statisztika

FGS: 28/68 41% ill. 24/54 44%

3-PTS: 6/20 30% ill. 8/14 57%

FTS: 14/18 78% ill. 9/11 82%

Rebounds: 43 (Ayayi 9) ill. 30 (Crvendakic 8)

Assists: 16 ill. 13 (Fegyverneky 7)

Steals: 12 ill. 4

Turnovers: 9 ill. 18

Blocks: 2 ill. 0

Faults: 17 ill. 23

The game started according to our will, the girls pulled away from the hosts with a 0-12 run. We had to wait five minutes for the first basket by Bourges, and that marked the begining of a 6-0 run. The double-digit difference seemed to stick, although Bourges tried to come closer. At 10-16 they came back to six points, but we closed the first period with a 5-0 run again, going to the short break with an 11-point advantage (10th minute 10-21).

The second quarter began with Bourges converting two free throws and reducing the gap to single digits again. After two minutes Tina scored our first points in this period, and converted the additional free throw as well (12th minute 12-24). Bourges seemed to wake up and scored 5 points without conceding any, but Jeca calmed her team down by a well-placed three-pointer to increase our lead back up to ten again (14th minute 17-27). Bourges tried their best to break our resistance, and climbed back up to being down by just four points, but then came a triple from Aleks, and Sopron topped that with a double, growing our lead to 9 points, and then came a home team time-out (16th minute 23-32). The double-digit away lead stagnated for a while, and then came another effort by Bourges but after two consecutive home baskets Crystal scored from the paint, and Jeca added two more points to the team's total pulling away by ten again, which was actually the last made shot of the first half (20th minute 29-39).

The third quarter began with some big plays by Yvonne, who made two free throws after a steal and then converted a mid-range double. Bourges showed that they still didn't give up on winning this game and reduced the gap to eight by the middle of the quarter (25th minute 37-45), but luckily we had an answer to all of their efforts. The hosts made a run, at the end of which they came back to five points, but then Jeca made a lay-up and calmed her team down. We couldn't be happy for long, the French made two free throws and climbed back to a five-point deficit again, and that wasn't even the end, with two more shots from the line the difference between the two sides decreased to 3 points (29th minute 48-51). This difference remained until the end of the quarter after disallowing the hosts' last second shot (30th minute 50-53).

The last period started with a double by the French, reducing the gap to a single point, and a minute later they even took over the lead. (32th minute 54-53), and this was enough for them to gain momentum and pull even further away, forcing coach Iniguez to call a time-out (33rd minute 56-53). The break in the game unfortunately proved ineffective, Bourges came up with three consecutive shots from downtown, which meant that the hosts led by twelve points, hence the next Sopron time-out of the quarter (34th minute 65-53). We still couldn't find a solution to their triples, they made another one, and that meant that the hosts were ahead by 15 points. We scored our first points in this quarter after more than five minutes, when the scoreboard said 68-55, when the hosts called time. Crystal made a shot from mid-range, and then the home manager called the teams to the bench (37th minute 68-57). Bourges spent the whole 24 seconds attacking, and made a shot at the buzzer. Then Yvonne made one and missed one at the line 38th minute 70-58). The French managed to hit another one from the arc, pulling away by 15 again (39th minute 73-58). Tina made an effort to reduce the gap by hitting a three in the last minute, and Aleks scored another one, forcing a Bourges time-out (40th minute 76-65). Nothing important happened after the break, so we came off the court with an 11-point loss in a game that didn't look this way for a long time. Final score: Tango Bourges Basket – Sopron Basket 76-65. We'll play in Istanbul next week against Galatasaray.

Roberto Iniguez: In the previous game we played well in the second half, now in the first one. Neither our offense, nor our defense was okay, it didn't work. We have to concentrate all the way through the 40 minutes!

Jelena Milovanovic :We played very well in the first half, but they stopped us in the second. It's hard playing here, Bourges never gives up. We tried to come back in the game, but unfortunately we couldn't.