Cup Final – Here we come!

Atomerőmű-KSC Szekszárd - Sopron Basket 56-77 (20-33, 13-11, 9-17, 14-16)
Budapest

Atomerőmű-KSC Szekszárd: Studer Á. 18/6, Gereben 5, Friskovec -, Goree 7, McCall - Cs.: Bálint R. 11/3, Krnjic 10, Theodoreán 3/3, Zele 2, Miklós -

Sopron Basket: January 11/9, Fegyverneky 2, Williams 19, Brooks 19/9, Határ 10 Cs.: Krajisnik 14/3, Walker 2, Czukor -, Varga A. -, Varga S. -

Statistics

2-PTS: 15/36 42% ill. 20/41 49%

3-PTS: 4/16 25% ill. 7/22 32%

FTS: 14/17 82% ill. 16/17 94%

Rebounds: 33 (Goree 6) ill. 47 (Krajisnik 10)

Assists: 10 (Studer 5) ill. 23 (Fegyverneky 6)

Steals: 7 (Studer 3) ill. 7

Turnovers: 12 ill. 11

Faults: 19 ill .22

VAL: 81 (Studer 23) ill. 133 (Williams 32)

Zsófi got the game going with a double, to which Goree answered back likewise. Then Gabby made a double, while at the other end Gereben came up with a three-point play to give Szekszárd the advantage (5-4). After that Betti converted two free throws, followed by two made shots from downtown by Briann. It was raining buckets at the beginning of the game, by the middle of the quarter we were already at 20 points, led by our American point guard (6th minutes 11-20). A bit later, when we were able to stretch our lead even further Zeljko Djokic thought it was time to call his team to the bench to talk things over (11-26). Krnjic went in for a lay-up after the brief pause, and then Tina did so at the other end. Szekszárd found their rhythm on offense following the time-out, but they were still unable to stop us on defense, so we were able to hold off their come-back efforts (10th minute 20-33).


Gabby opened the second quarter with two successful free throws, and the Bálint copied her actions at the other end (12th minute 22-35). Goree split a pair at the foul line, to which Studer added a triple, forcing head coach Dávid Gáspár to call his first time-out (26-35). Jeca made a double after the short pause, and then Gabby beat her defender for a lay-up, forcing Szekszárd’s next time-out (15th minute 26-39). Our opponents came closer to us with a double by Krnjic, but then Jeca buried a triple. After that Tina was also successful from inside the paint, to which Gereben answered back with a double of her own, followed by a double by Studer with a chance of a three-point play, forcing our next time-out (32-44). Szekszárd’s point guard converted the and-one coming back on court setting the score for half-time (20th minute 33-44).


Jeca started off the third quarter with a double, which proved to be the only made basket for a long time. However, a bit over three minutes into the quarter Gabby ran down the court for a lay-up off Briann’s spectacular assist forcing Zeljko Djokic to call his next time-out (24th minute 33-48). Jeca kept scoring after the brief pause, that time she made a triple, stretching our run all the way to 7-0 in the period (33-51). Gabby made two free throws after yet another time-out by Szekszárd, increasing our lead to twenty for the first time in the game. Then our opponents scored twice in a row, before Megan was able to hit from close in, launching an 8-0 run, which came to an end with a triple by Bálint, and the final score in the quarter was set by Studer’s two free throws (30th minute 42-61).


Theodoreán opened the final stage of the game with a big three, to which Gabby answered back with a three-point play. After that Betti split a pair of foul shots at the line, while Studer scored from inside the paint (32nd minute 47-65). Bálint came up with a three-point play, and then Betti scored from under the rim. Gabby and Zele exchanged buckets, but then Dávid Gáspár had something to say to his team and called a time-out (35th minute 52-69). Studer went in for a lay-up after the break, and then came a longer scoring drought, which came to an end with two successful free throws by Gabby. In the closing minutes of the game we came up with another scoring run and securing a spot in the Sunday final against DVTK (40th minute 56-77).

Dávid Gáspár: It was a tough game. I think these two teams always play physical and competitive games. All the staff members and coaches on both teams work that way, so it’s understandable that the atmosphere is a bit hotter. I think there was a big fight throughout the entire game, and I am happy that we were able to win the rebound battle, but I didn’t like our rebounding in the first quarter. We allowed too many offensive rebounds, and Szekszárd scored lots of second chance points. We try to pay attention to every nuance, because that’s how we can keep going forward. Congratulations to my team, because we kept the game under control despite travelling a lot these days. We are very happy about making it to the final, wher we will do everything on Sunday.


Jelena Brooks: It was a great game from the first until the last minute. We expected this. For the two games we have played before this one: I know that wasn’t their team. I am really glad that we had a game like this to prepare us for the next step that we have ahead of us. I fell that especially in the second half we played the way we wanted to as a team. The most important part of that is that we kept them under sixty points, and whenever we can do that we never lose. That’s what we have to focus on on Sunday, and after that until the end of the season as well.