We’ll keep building

Sopron Basket - BKG PRIMA NATURA Szigetszentmiklós 61-41 (16-7, 14-13, 13-13, 18-8)
Sopron

Sopron Basket: Fegyverneky 2, Sykes 15, Kunek 4, Sitku 4, Stankovic 5 Sub.: Brooks 16/6, Magbegor 12, Böröndy V. 2, Czukor 1, Varga A. -, Erdélyiova -, Völgyi L. -

BKG PRIMA NATURA Szigetszentmiklós: Perez -, Katona Sz. 17/3, Zsámár 3/3, Jones 5, Degbeon 10 Sub.: Szabó II. 3/3, Andi 2, Aldazabal 1, Kovács -

Statistics

FGS: 20/56 36% ill. 16/52 31%

3-PTS: 2/13 15% ill. 3/20 15%

FTS: 19/26 73% ill. 6/10 60%

Rebounds: 31 (Sykes7) ill. 43 (Degbeon 14)

Assists: 10 (Fegyverneky, Sykes 4-4) ill. 11 (Perez 3)

Steals: 13 (Sykes 4) ill. 5

Turnovers: 13 ill. 29

Faults: 15 ill. 25

The first period began with two made free throws by Zsuzsi, while at the other end Zsámár hit a triple. After that came an exchange of buckets between Brittney and Katona, and following a longer pause Zsuzsi scored again, forcing Tibor Gedei to call his first time-out (5th minute 6-5). We kicked it up a notch on defense after the short break, and pulled away from the guests step by step. Meanwhile Ezi also made her debut on the court (8th minute 12-5). What’s more, in the last minute our new center scored her first points on the team, which stretched our scoring run to 12-0, when BKG managed to score again half a minute before the end of the period (10th minute 16-7).


Jeca put two free throws in the net at the beginning of the second quarter, increasing our lead to double digits for the first time in the game. After that Katona also started scoring for BKG, however, Jeca answered back to it right away with a triple. We wouldn’t slow down afterwards, and when Jeca scored again, the guests called their next time-out (13th minute 25-11). Then came a two-minute-long scoring drought, which came to an end with a double by Katona, and when Degbeon also made a shot from inside Dávid Gáspár called his team to the bench to talk things over (25-15). That still didn’t stop the guests, though, following a triple by Katona the difference went down to seven. That was when Dragana managed to get us going again with a basket, however, BKG answered back right away. Still, with a bucket by Brittney in the last seconds we restored the ten-point differential for the big break (20th minute 30-20).


The third quarter began with quick buckets by Ezi, but Jones kept the guests in the game, what1s more, we were up only by seven following a triple by Szabó (23rd minute 34-27). This period was a low-scoring one, with two and a half minutes left of it we still did not get to ten points, but managed to keep our advantage intact, and went into the last ten minutes in possession of a ten-point lead (30th minute 43-33).


Degbeon made a double at the beginning of the final stage of the game, to which Brittney answered back from the charity stripe, and then Katona split a pair of free throws, following which Tibor gedei called a time-out (33rd minute 45-38). Jeca drained a double after the short pause, and the two made free throws by Ezi meant that we were up by ten again. After the bucket by Brittney our scoring run got stretched out to 7-2, so the guests had to call time again (36th minute 52-40). It seemed like we got inti rhythm in this period, we were up by fifteen with three minutes left on the game clock, and a triple by Jeca after an away free throw forced head coach Tibor Gedei to call another time-out (58-41). The difference reached the twenty-point mark after a lay-up by Jeca, which set the final score in the game, and it meant that we warmed up to the SuperCup Women Final on Tuesday with a victory (40th minute 61-41).

Dávid Gáspár: Nobody is satisfied tonight, and how could we be after a 61-41 result. It wasn't a spectacular game. I fell like our team still needs to work a lot. Everyone has arrived on board by now, and we need time, until everyone can learn our system. It will not go in an instant. Until we form chemistry the game will lag. However, the intention is clear, to reach the continuity on offense and defense that has been a characteristic of our team for the past few years. BKG took advantage of this situation very well. Their defense made it impossible for us to make easy baskets. They did what they had to do against us cleverly and well. Our goal was to keep our opponents below 50 points, but the 41 point final score is a bit misleading, because they missed many open shots. The 41 points they scored is not a result of our defense. We'll keep working. Thank you for the well-wishes, and we also wish BKG to reach their goals.

Jelena Brooks: It is great that we managed to win the game, but we are not in an easy situation right now. Everyone is here, but we didn't get to practice a lot together, which showed on both ends of the court. We gave it our all, and won, but we have to keep working together to get better.

Tibor Gedei: Congratulations to Sopron for the win! I also have some reservations about the game. I think we made a lot of steps forward, it shows that we have been practising together for the past two weeks. We were good opponents, there are different areas in which we did well, or were even better than them. We fought well, cut down on the number of turnovers, but there were still enough, which Sopron punished ruthlessly. We prepared for some players individually, and we managed to do it here and there. We have to keep working, I wish Sopron the best of luck in Euroleague!

Szidónia Katona: Congratulations to Sopron! Those who take a look at the result might think that we played a good game, because the 20-point difference is great against Sopron. I still feel a little bad, because it could have been closer. We tried to do everything, and were worthy opponents for Sopron for three quarters.