Final test ahead of Euroleague HUB passed

Sopron Basket - TFSE-MTK 98-67 (25-18, 23-14, 28-18, 22-17)
Sopron

Sopron Basket: January 10/6, Pfeiffer 3/3, Williams 9/3, Brooks 21/6, Krajisnik 21 Sub.: Czukor 16/6, Walker 11/3, Fegyverneky 7

TFSE-MTK: Jenkins Cs. 23/12, Bernáth 7/3, Boros 3/3, Németh A. 6, A. Jenkins 18 Sub.: Herman 3/, Kovács V. 7, Kováts G. -, Király A. -

Statistics

FGS: 37/59 63% ill. 21/57 37%

3-PTS: 9/19 47% ill. 7/20 35%

FTS: 15/18 83% ill. 18/25 72%

Rebounds: 32 (Krajisnik 10) ill. 31 (A. Jenkins 10)

Assists: 28 (Fegyverneky 9) il. 14 (Bernáth 5)

Steals: 6 ill. 6

Turnovers: 12 ill. 16

Faults: 21 ill. 21

Tina got the game going with a three-point play, and then she put a rebound back for two. Boros made the first basket for the guests in the form of a triple, and then Gabby started delivering on offense from the foul line (2nd minute 7-3. We kept attacking, which brought us a double-digit lead after four minutes of play, forcing Bianka Magyar to call her first time-out in the game (5th minute 17-6). TF were coming closer with the help of points by the two Jenkins, while at the other end Gabby ande Jeca were able to score. We were unable to break the guests’ pace, and we were only up by a single bucket approaching the end of the period, but then Zsófi came up with a soothing double, to which Briann added two more points before the buzzer (10th minute 25-18).


The second quarter also began with a bucket by a center, Tina put a lay-up in place, to which Vanessza Kovács answered back likewise. That’s when our young gun Virág Pfeiffer showed up and buried a triple (30-20). Tina scored again, and after that, the teams were unable to make a shot for a while, making Bianka Magyar call her next time-out (14th minute 32-20). Alma Németh put an end to the scoring drought with a basket off a spin move, and then Jeca hit a triple. Following two successful free throws by Dalma Jeca came back into spotlight with a three-point play. Németh made a shot for the away side, and then after a made free throw by Sopron Bernáth even buried a shot from outside the arc (18th minute 41-27). At the end of the period we were going into the half-time break in possession of a seventeen-point advantage thanks to Briann and Jeca’s free throws (20th minute 49-32).


Jeca made two free throws to start the second half, while at the other end Alisia Jenkins copied her actions, and then, with a corner three by Megan the difference has reached the twenty-point mark (22nd minute 54-34). Dalma also got fired up, she put five points on the board in quick succession. After six minutes of play TF was still unable to get closer to us, which made Bianka Magyar think that it was time for her to call her team to the bench for a brief talk (26th minute 65-44). The talk was ineffective for the guests, since we were able to increase our lead by the end of the period (30th minute 76-50).


Zsófi got the final stage of the game going with a double, to which Alisia Jenkins answered back with two successful shots from the foul line. After that Briann buried a triple, and then Dalma converted Zsófi’s spectacular assist into two points forcing the next away time-out (33rd minute 83-52). A minute later Briann hit another three from the corner, but so did Chanise Jenkins at the other end. After an inbound-play from the baseline Tina was able to make a shot, and then Németh hit one off a spin move. Then after Chanise Jenkins’ triple it was time for Dávid Gáspár to call a time-out (92-60). Megan scored a quick double after the short pause, to which Alisia Jenkins answered back likewise, and then Dalma also added a double. With a lay-up by Tina we were only one basket away from the triple-digit scoring mark. TF scored five points in the last minutes setting the final score in the game (40th minute 98-67).

Dávid Gáspár: Thank you for the nice words and your support! We are facing a serious challenge after a tough period of time. Our players have done a great job recently, our improvement can be tracked game-by-game. We are taking every game seriously, and we did so tonight as well. We showed a serious performance with great focus, five of our players finished in double digits in scoring, we had many assists, which means that our ball movement worked well, too. I am happy about the team work, the focus. We will obviously find some mistakes when analyzing the game, and we have to, because that's how we can move forward, but the girls deserve all praise after this rough stretch! Tomorrow we have a day off, and then we will continue the preparation for the HUB. I hope we will be able to do well there, too!

Jelena Brooks: Congratulations to my team and the opposition, we played a good game! It was hard, but before the bubble it was a good game for us. We can carry this rhythm to the bubble.

Bianka Magyar: This is my second season as a head coach in the NB I. A, during which time this has been our biggest defeat so far. Our concept and my task towards the players is that we always have to leave the court with our heads held high. We were unable to do that tonight. I felt like humility was missing, too, because we got a lot of easy baskets scored on us. I think we shouldn't seek excuses. We were missing some key players from the starting five, but this way others had the chance to step up, but they couldn't take their chance tonight. We have to play with a lot bigger resistance against a team like this! I am sorry for not being able to show a bigger resistance to Sopron before the Euroleague bubble. We wanted to help them prepare, because an entire nation is going to root for them next week. We wish them the best of luck! For us, we have to draw conclusions on how to pose a bigger resistance in a situation like this.

Vanessza Kovács: Unfortunately, multiple players missed weeks due to coronavirus infection during the FIBA window, but it is a problem everyone has to deal with. If I wanted to say something positive I would mention the rebounds, in which we were close to them.