Three quarters of good performance proved enough against Girona

Sopron Basket - SPAR Citylift Girona 66-56 (23-12, 19-9, 11-9, 13-26)
Sopron

Sopron Basket: January 14/9, Fegyverneky 11, Crvendakic 6/6, Brooks 16/3, Jovanovic 6 Sub.: Dupree 9, Határ 4, Dubei -

SPAR Citylift Girona: Palau 10/3, Mendy 10/6, Vasic 13/3, Elonu 12, Coulibaly 8 Sub.: Araujo 5/3, Andusic 4, Xargay -, Roso -

Statisztika

FGS: 25/61 41% ill. 18/59 31%

3-PTS: 6/22 27% ill. 5/16 31%

FTS: 10/11 91% ill. 15/18 83%

Rebounds: 32 (Brooks 8) ill. 47 (Elonu 12)

Assists: 14 (Fegyverneky, January 4-4) ill. 13 (Elonu, Vasic 3-3)

Steals: 6 (January 2) ill. 5 (Elonu, Vasic 2)

Turnovers: 11 ill. 20

Faults: 21 ill. 20

EF: 74 (Brooks 16) ill. 59 (Elonu 21)

Jeca got the game going with a corner three, to which Vasic answered back likewise, and then her and Zsófi exchanged buckets (3rd minute 5-5). After that Tina and Briann managed to score, while being able to prevent Girona from doing so, and when Jeca hit another one Girona called their first time-out (5th minute 12-5). Araújo buried a triple after the short pause, to which Briann answered back likewise. The number eight for Girona kept scoring, but this time Betti had an answer to it. What’s more, after yet another successful shot from outside by Briann, the difference has reached double digits for the first time in the game (20-10), and we managed to put one more in-between until the end of the first period (10th minute 23-12)!


A split pair of free throws by Coulibaly launched the second quarter, to which Zsófi answered back from mid-range beating the buzzer. Elonu and Jeca exchanged buckets, and then Briann made one of two from the foul line, and when Jeca beat her defender with a spin move under the rim for another double Girona called their second time-out (16th minute 30-15). Jeca made two foul shots after the break, to which Mendy answered back with a double from mid-range, forcing our first time-out (32-17). Slowly, but surely we kept delivering on offense, however, with 91 seconds on the clock Dávid Gáspár thought that he needed to talk things over with his team (36-19). When Zsófi converted an and-one, we were only one basket away from a twenty-point difference, which we have reached in the next possession with a shot by our team captain, and then Jeca finished the quarter with a free throw awarded for a technical foul called on Palau (20th minute 42-21)!


Coulibaly opened the second half with a lay-up, to which Briann answered back from mid-range. Neither side was able to crack the opposition’s defense for a long time, until Elonu put an end to the scoring drought with a lay-up (25th minute 44-26). Aleks hit a three, to which Briann added a lay-up, but then Mendy went in for an easy basket which forced Dávid Gáspár to call his next time-out (49-30). Zsófi restored the difference from half-time with a lay-up after the short pause, and then Candice put two more in-between to close the quarter (30th minute 53-30).


Candice got the final stage of the game going with a double, to which Coulibaly answered back with two successful foul shots. After that Aleks hit a triple, to which Candice added a jumper from mid-range. Three minutes into the quarter we were flirting with the thirty-point margin which made coach Eric Surís call his team to the bench for a time-out (33rd minute 62-34). In the next few minutes Girona came up with a big scoring run that was stretched all the way to 11-0 before Betti ended it with a lay-up, but when Girona scored again, our head coach called his team to the bench to try and figure something out to stop the Spanish (37th minute 64-47). In the last minutes it was already decided that we would win the game, but the question of by how much was still to be answered. The final margin was ten, which means that we are now better than Girona on aggregate (40th minute 66-56).

Gáspár Dávid: We have worked a lot and struggled with many problems throughout the season. However, in recent weeks we have been able to do good work in practice, almost always with a complete roster. This also shows in our games. It must not fill us with satisfaction! We'll keep doing things in this morale! I am very happy about the win, we have done a lot for it, we controlled the game for 32 minutes. In the last eight minutes we started to rush things, and gave away the difference we had built up until then, but all in all I am proud of the girls. We were in difficult situations mentally many times, but they always played with focus. We thank our fans for their support, and ask that they show up to our games in such nice numbers, and help us reach our goals!

Jelena Brooks: Congratulations to Girona, we played a great game! It was a very important win, we have worked a lot to be able to deliver a performance like the one at the beginning of the game. Unfortunately the difference decreased by the end, but what matters is that we won by a big enough margin. Congratulations to my team, we played a great game!