Hard-fought victory in Szekszárd

Atomerőmű-KSC Szekszárd - Sopron Basket 56-67 (17-19, 16-11, 7-19, 16-18)
Szekszárd

Atomerőmű-KSC Szekszárd: Studer Á. 5/3, Gereben 14/3, Eldebrink 10/3, McCall 13/6, Mansare 6 Sub.: Kis V. 4, Jovanovic 2, Bálint 2, Theodoreán -

Sopron Basket: Fegyverneky 6, Turner 7/3, Czukor D. 2, Zahui 12, Dupree 17 Sub.: Crvendakic 9, Határ 8, Turner 7/3, Salvadores 4, Dubei 2, Varga K. -

Stats

2-PTS: 15/37 41% ill. 25/44 57%
3-PTS: 5/16 31% ill. 1/12 8%
FTS: 11/19 58% ill. 14/17 82%
Rebounds: 39 (McCall 9) ill. 32 (Dupree 10)
Assists: 10 ill. 15 (Salvadores 5)
Steals: 4 ill. 8 (Fegyverneky 3)
Turnovers: 12 ill. 10
Faults: 20 ill. 22
VAL: 53 (Gereben 21) ill. 82 (Dupree 29)

The game began with a double for Candice, to which Eldebrink answered back likewise. Amanda got our lead back with a nice shot from mid-range. Gereben converted one from the line, while at the other end Candice buried two foul shots (3-6). In the initial period of the game neither side was able to pull away from the other, but we were always a small step ahead of Szekszárd, even though they tied the game up at nine points following a double by Mansaré (5th minute 9-9). Then Debi came up with a shot for two, to which Dalma added two more from the line to give us a four-point lead. We couldn't be happy for long though, McCall buried a shot from downtown to get back up on our necks. After another exchange of baskets by McCall and Candice Betti was able to hit one from close in, but then the shootout continued, and the triple made by Eldebrink set the score for the first quarter at us being two points ahead of our hosts (10th minute 17-19).


Aleks opened the second period with two successful shots from the free throw line, to which Bálint answered back with a double off the assist by Studer. After that both sides were unable to score for a while, but then Amanda broke the long scoring drought by making a lay-up (13th minute 19-23). A bit later she converted a double again, while at the other end McCall made one of two from the line. It was also her who was able to hit a triple to reduce the gap to two points, and after a turnover by Aleks Eldebrink even tied the game up again. What's more, after two successful free throws by Jovanovic they even took the lead (16th minute 27-25). Aleks and Zsófi each hit one from the line to tie the game up, but then Eldebrink made a lay-up to regain the lead for the home side. To a foul shot by Candice Mansaré answered back with a lay-up. She even added another double from mid-range to her team's total giving the hosts a five-point lead. The last points of the half were scored by Candice from the line which brought us back to being down by three points at half-time (20th minute 33-30).


The second half began with a double by Amanda that brought us back to a single-point deficit, and Zsófi's double got us on the front foot (22nd minute 33-34). Szekszárd seemed to have woken up, and stopped our scoring run at 6-0, and then came back to a one point margin. What's more, after Studer's free throws they took the lead back from us. The lead changed back and forth in this period, neither team was able to pull away with more than a single basket's worth (26th minute 40-42). That's when Yvonne and Betti launched the rockets, our point guard buried a shot from downtown, to which Betti added a double to give us a comfortable lead. Yvonne closed the quarter with a double, so we were awaiting the last period with a nine-point advantage (30th minute 40-49).


Betti opened the final stage of the game with a double, which increased our lead to double digits. For a while that was the only basket made in the quarter, but then Candice hit a double to push our lead even further ahead (33rd minute 40-53). Szekszárd scored their first points of the period after Angela made a double, but after Gereben's points our Spanish player did it again to restore the difference and then handed out an assist to Betti for two more (36th minute 42-59). After that Gereben kept scoring, she put five more on the board for the home team, when Yvonne hit a double for us, but Szekszárd's young talent wouldn't give up and made a shot from mid-range for two more points on her stat sheet. Both sides kept scoring, Aleks buried a double, to which Gereben answered from behind the three-point line. Then Amanda put another double in the basket for us. Gereben handed out two assists to McCall afterwards, while Candice made a lay-up, which became the last basket of the game. It was a hard-fought game but based upon the second half we deserved to come away with a huge win from our biggest rivals in the league (40th minute 56-67).

Roberto Iniguez: Just as it was the case in the last game the fact of loss and win is not what matters to me, but the way we were playing. This time I am very happy This is our path! I hope there will be no ups and downs in our performance, and from now on we can continue on this level. Wednesday's loss in Euroleague came at a very good time!

Bernadett Határ: It was a typical derby! Compared to Wednesday we were able to improve a lot on defense. There were mistakes, especially in clutch situations, but we are working on these and trying to improve game by game.