Still on the right way

SOPRON BASKET - MTK BUDAPEST 88-53 (26-13, 19-14, 19-10, 24-16)
Sopron

Sopron Basket: Fegyverneky 7/3, Dubei 16/6, Crvendakic 5/3, Milovanovic 9, Határ 8 Sub.: Turner 12/6, Coates 12, Jovanovic 9, Czukor 6, Salvadores 4, Weninger -

MTK Budapest: Horváth B. 9/3, Zolyomi 4, Adamcz L. 4, Szabó F. 10, Weber F. 11/3 Sub.: Koch 5/3, Székely-Horváth 3/3, Szabó B. 3, Pál Sz. 2, Cvitkovic 2, Szeitl V. -

Stat

FGS: 35/63 56% ill. 18/55 33%

3-PTS: 6/16 38% ill. 4/14 29%

FTS: 12/17 71% ill. 13/14 93%

Rebounds: 41 (Crvendaic 9) ill. 25 (Weber 7)

Assists 27 (Weninger , Crvendakic 6-6) ill. 13 (Szabó F. 3)

Steals: 12 ill. 7

Turnovers: 16 ill. 22

Blocks: 7 (Határ 3) ill. 1

Faults: 16 ill. 16

We have won the right for the first possession at the tip-off, but both teams warmed up very slowly being unable to score for almost two minutes when Jeca made the first basket of the game. Aleks and Jeca added five more points to our total giving us an early lead (3rd minute 7-0). After that MTK have also put their first points in the game from the free throw line, but they couldn't come closer. After five minutes we were in a six-point lead when MTK called their first time-out in the game (5th minute 13-7). Following the short pause our new signing Alaina Coates has come on court for the first time wearing our colors, and she even scored her first points right away. The time-out couldn't get us out of rhythm, we continued to play like we did before and with two minute on the clock the difference has reached double digits for the first time (8th minute 20-9). By the end of the quarter we were ahead by 13 after the double by Cvitkovic (10th minute 26-13).


The second period began just like the first one: neither team was able to score, and head coach Roberto Iniguez decided that we can't keep this scoring drought alive, and called a time-out. It made a good impact on the game, because in the next few minutes Tina scored five pointsto push us even further ahead. Later in the quarter Yvonne stepped up next to Tina and after a double made by her the margin grew up to twenty points (16th minute 39-19). In the remainder of the quarter MTK tried to come closer and at 41-27 they managed to come back to a fourteen-point deficit, but with a double by Zsófi and Alaina we have stopped this comeback effort to end the first half in possessionf of a comfortable advantage (20th minute 45-27).


The second half brought yet another period where none of the teams were able to break the resistance of the other, and the audience had to wait almost three minutes for the first made basket of the quarter, which was a triple by Flóra Szabó. It took Aleks another minute to be able to answer back likewise. Six minute into the quarter when the visitors were still unable to come closer to us they decided to call a time-out (26th minute 51-31). Comig back on court after the break Debi and Vonnie led an 11-0 run with contribution from Alaina, but MTK got the last say before the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the period (30th minute 64-37).


We coudln't be stopped in the last stage of the game either. Zsófi orchestrated a 7-0 run with the help of Debi from behind the arc to forc the next time-out for the guests (32nd minute 71-37). After the time-out Debi buried another one for two points before MTK could get their first basket in the period. As minutes have passed our lead kept growing and after a spectacular steal and a lay-up by Dalma it reached the forty-point mark (36th minute 84-42). In the last minute Jeca had an unsportsmanlike foul called on her, which gave four points to MTK, but Dalma and Debi were also able to make score, which led to the next away time-out (39th minute 88-50), and as a result – just the way it was in the quarter before – MTK managed to score from three at the buzzer setting the final result at a 35-point home win (40th minute 88-53).

Roberto Iniguez: We are stronger and taller, but today our opponent played better than us! I am not satisfied with that!

Dóra Nagy: Congratulations to Sopron! We have been able to hold on for 25 minutes against a good team, but the difference between the two sides has shown later on. We have completed the tasks we set for ourselves kind of well. We had some troubles with boxing out, which had an impact in the third quarter. We know what we have to improve on until the game against PINKK!

Debóra Dubei: We took the game seriously. We had to practice some things on offense and on defense for next week's Euroleague ame. We have done that successfully, but the two weeks we missed out on was visible on our game. We have some more days to fix our mistakes!

Zsuzsanna Székely-Horváth: We considered this game as preparation for the one against PINKK, and we have done what we came to do.