Success at the season-opener

Vasas Akadémia - Sopron Basket 59-83 (12-26, 15-14, 20-21, 12-22)

Vasas Akadémia: Papp 11, Tóth O. 5, Pusztai -, Madár E. 2, Budácsik 4 Sub.: Bach 17/6, Smailbegovic 10/6, Salamon 5, Siklós 3, Madár K. 2, Szerencsés -

Sopron Basket: Fegyverneky 8, Czukor 9/3, Jovanovic 14/3, Varga A. 10/3, Határ 14 Sub.: Gaye 16, Sitku 5, Varga S. 3/3, Kókai 2, Molnárova 2

Statistics

2-PTS: 18/39 46% ill. 27/46 59%

3-PTS: 4/13 31% ill. 4/13 31%

FTS: 11/17 65% ill. 17/20 85%

Rebounds: 23 (Tóth, Salamon, Papp 4-4) ill. 36 (Jovanovic 6)

Assists: 13 (Tóth O. 4) ill. 21 (Fegyverneky 8)

Steals: 5 ill. 5

Turnovers: 16 ill. 11

Faults: 23 ill. 20

VAL: 68 (Tóth O. 15) ill. 129 (Jovanovic 26)

Betti got the game going with a double, to which she added another one after a basket by the home side. Approaching the middle of the first period we were still ahead, but couldn’t pull away from Vasas, since they always had answeres to our made shots at the other end (4th minute 6-8). After that we came up with an 8-0 run to make our advantage a bit more comfortable, forcing Vasas to call their first time-out of the game (6-16). It proved ineffective, though, because we picked up where we left off beforehand, and put ten more points on the board, including Zsuzsa Sitku’s first basket for the senior team, while allowing Vasas to score only four (10th minute 12-26).

Betti kept delivering on offense for us, adding another double to her tally, but then Smailbegovic also hit one from behind the arc (12th minute 15-30). Then came a bit of a dry spell, which was ended by Alíz, who fought hard for a double under the rim, and the Papp made a lay-up for the home side. After that Smailbegovic hit once again from downtown, to which Zsófi answered back from inside. With a little less than two minutes until half-time head coach Dávid Gáspár decided to call his team to the bench to talk things over, since Vasas seemed to have found their rhythm (25-40). Bach managed to make a double before the buzzer setting the score for the half-time break (20th minute 27-40).

Dalma and Alíz both scored two at the beginning of the third period, to which the former added another one (27-46). After that Vasas came up with a 7-3 run of their own to come a bit closer to us (25th minute 34-49). The team from the capital kept scoring and came back to being down by only eleven, when Aby made two free throws to hold them off for the time being (43-56). Following two very close middle quarters we went into the last one in possession of a 14-point advantage (30th minute 47-61).

Sára opened the final stage of the game with a well-placed triple, to which Betti added a double, before allowing Vasas to make their first basket of the period (33rd minute 49-66). Following a time-out by Milos Pavlovic Neca came up with a three-point play to increase our lead to twenty points for the first time in the game (49-69). We closed the game having Laura Molnárová and Patrícia Kókai both being able to score at their senior debut and the team secure our first win in the new season (40th minute 59-83).

Dávid Gáspár: Vasas is a tough team, on which the work they have done for long years is clearly visible. It also showed in tonight's game that if we don't play with the necessary focus and toughness, they can cause serious problems, and they even had some nice moves when we were working well against them. All in all congratulations to the team! As in every team's life, there are also tougher, more problematic times for us, too. We are in such a period right now, but whoever was able to play tonight played with the necessary focus and devotion. We had some especially nice plays! We'll keep building!

Zsófia Fegyverneky: We are past a rocky pre-season. We are not where we want to be in many aspects, but we played a good game. We really prepared for Vasas, who is always a tough opponent on their home court. They also played well, we tried to stop their quick, aggressive one-on-one plays. I think we dominated all the way through, but of course, there are mistakes that we need to fix.