Piešťany with their first loss in the competition, Triglav advances to the Final Four
Piešťanské Čajky – SKN St. Pölten 92:53 (26:15, 27:12, 25:14, 14:12)
Scorers – Piešťany: James 26, Jurčenková 21, Moravčíková 12, Stašová and Vandlíková each 10, Herminjard 9, Kraislová and Mandić each Taušová 0,
Scorers – St. Pölten: Krisper 9, Kenens and Orekhova each 8, Feitl, Kunz, A. Kolyandrova and M. Kolyandrova each 6, Wildbacher 4, Mbells and Mayrhofer 0
Piešťany started the first duel in Kranj quite solidly, and James took care of the first 8 points. After the initial fumbling, they took it into their own hands, and there was an ease in their play after a long time. It was documented by a 14-4 score in the fifth minute and also by the fact that James accounted for 11 of the team’s 17 points. After the substitution, there was a little defensive relief, but offensively, it still clicked. Piešťany won the first quarter at 26:15. The second 10-minute session also marked the continuation of James’ show on the board. Piešťany did not allow St. Pölten to be significant and long-term for Pölten from the point of view of tactical things, so the leadership could constantly grow. Under the basket, Jurčenková did well, and the qualitative difference began to show more and more. By halftime, the lead had grown to 26 points – 53:27.
The short break did not change anything in the Piešťany setup, there was still a high level of concentration on both sides of the board, and they started the third quarter with an 11-point lead. The opponent got to the floor only after five minutes, but by then the lead was already attacking the 40-point mark. St. Pölten responded with a 7-0 run, but Piešťany did not let them go on a longer onslaught. The score went to the last part at 78:41. In it, the winner of the match could not change anything, but it was still played at a high pace. Piešťany could check the minutes of the players for the next duel, they could no longer lose their winning streak and the championship in the A-group.
Post-game quotes:
Ondrej Haviar, assistant coach of the Piešťany: “We are quite satisfied with the game. Basically from the first seconds the game was in our hands, we dictated the pace. I am glad that we returned to our game, which has decorated us in recent months. Especially the aggressive play in defence, playing fast to the basket. We had 24 offensive rebounds, the extra chances gave us extra energy. There was better shooting success, converted three-point attempts. All of that contributed to us winning by almost 40 points.”
Tereza Vandlíková, player of Piešťany: “From the beginning of the game we were very determined and we gave a lot of energy. We also had good phases in defense and attack. We kept one tempo, which is very important. This win definitely helped us because when we are down, we need to get stronger and fight together as a team. Especially teamwork and support played a big role in this game.”
ŽKK Triglav – KK Trešnjevka 2009 67:74 (18:15, 6:25, 27:11, 16:23)
Scorers – Triglav: Vrečer 22, Dragar and Kozina Bubnić each 12, Šarić 9, Stavrov 7, Grebenc 3, Burgar 2, Kvrgić and Hlebec 0,
Scorers – Trešnjevka: Bilić 22,Novak 15, Curić 12, Valčić 10, Rodek 6, Vukić 4, Cuklin 3, Kokolić 2
Trešnjevka opened the game with a two-point shot. Triglav answered with a three-point shot. In the first quarter, the two teams were very evenly matched. At the end of the first quarter, Triglav was leading by 3 points (18:15). At the beginning of the second quarter, Trešnjevka made a 4:0. With some bad passes and missed shots on the side of Triglav, Trešnjevka made a 16-point difference at 19:35 and went to rest at 24:40 before the second half of the match.
Triglav opened the third quarter at 5:0 and ended the quarter at 51:51. The fourth quarter was until the last minute, with exchange in the lead. In the last minute, Trešnjevka made a three-point shot, and Triglav made some missed throws and personal fouls. Trešnjevka made a 7-point difference and won the game on the first day of the tournament.
Post-game quotes:
Robert Matevžič, coach of Triglav: “It’s a pity for the incomprehensible slump in the second quarter, where we were completely lost. With excellent defense, we caught them and took the lead, and then got two difficult three-pointers. We still have hope that these things will return to us and that we will qualify for the final tournament that we so desire.”
Lara Kozina Bubnič, player of Triglav: “After falling behind at halftime, we managed to tie the score in the third quarter. In the last minutes, we lacked a little concentration and sporting luck. Tomorrow is a new day and a new game, which we go into with our heads held high.”
Dean Nemec, coach of Trešnjevka: “As expected, we played a difficult game against the home team, which we won after a roller coaster of results during which we led by as many as 19 points in the last minute of the first half, but in the second half, in the last quarter, we reached -2. In the end, the scoring run stopped at +7 for us. The quality of the game varied with both teams, and there were brilliantly played parts but also big failures, especially in the defensive game. In the end, it is a big thing for us with such a young team that we achieved our first victory in the Alpe Adria Cup, especially on the away field. Considering today’s victory, we remained in the competition for a passage to the final tournament, but tomorrow we will have to beat the Austrian team by a suitable margin, against whom we lost three months ago in the second tournament in St. Polten.”
KK Trešnjevka 2009– SKN St. Pölten 90:80 (25:17, 20:19, 20:19, 25:25)
Scorers – Trešnjevka: Bilić 27, Novak 18, Curić 17, Cuklin and Kokolić each 10, Vukić 7, Rodek 1
Scorers – St. Pölten: Krisper and Wildbacher each 23, Orekhova 17, A. Kolyandrova 8, Kunz 5, Kenens 4, M. Kolyandrova 0
Trešnjevka opened the match with a double three-point shot. St. Pölten answered with a three-point shot. Trešnjevka again made a double three-point shot. By the end of the quarter, Trešnjevka was leading by 8 points. At the beginning of the second quarter, both teams made mistakes. Trešnjevka was leading by 10 points, and with a double three-point shot, St. Pölten came to just a 4-point difference. With fouls from Trešnjevka, St. Pölten was only 2 points behind. With some good shots from Trešnjevka, the quarter ended at 45:36.
With missed layups, shots, and bad passes on the St. Pölten side, Trešnjevka made a 12-point difference and ended the quarter at 65:55. Trešnjevka started the last quarter with a 3-point shot, to which St. Pölten answered. Trešnjevka ended the game with a 10-point difference. Even though St. Pölten had a better probability of three points, free throws were not enough to win the match.
Post-game quotes:
Dean Nemec, coach of Trešnjevka: “Today we were helped by a great opening of the game with four three-pointers from five attempts. With this, we gained an initial advantage that we maintained until the end and even increased at some moments. The opponent took advantage of our deficit in weight and height in the racket, but the players nullified it with combativeness and smart implementation of the agreed tactics, and all we had to do was solve the opponent’s three-point shot, which we struggled with until the very end of the game. In the end, however, we succeeded, and with these two victories at the last tournament of the season, we achieved a real small feat, which may have even secured us a trip to the final tournament of this year’s Alpe Adria Cup.”
Andreas Worenz, assistant coach of St. Pölten: “We didn’t execute our game plan and missed too many easy shots to win that basketball game.”
Anna Kolyandrova, player of St. Pölten: “We fought for 40 minutes. In the end, it wasn’t enough!”
ŽKK Triglav – Piešťanské Čajky 58:46 (20:11, 8:18, 15:10, 15:7)
Scorers – Triglav: Dragar 18,Stavrov 15, Vrečer 11, Kozina Bubnič, Burgar and Kvrgić each 4, Šarić 2, Grebenc 0
Scorers – Čajky: James 16, Taušová 11, Jurčenková 5, Moravčíková and Stašová each 4, Mandić and Herminjard each 3, Taušová 11, Vandlíková and Kraislová 0
In the first quarter, home team Triglav, led by Vrečer, played fearlessly and deservedly. Čajky were looking for each other at this stage and had to win every point, but after 10 minutes, they were losing 11:20. In the second half, Piešťany started much better, but Triglav was able to maintain a favorable situation with his energy. Step by step, however, things started to change on the scoreboard, in the 9th minute, Čajky took the lead for the first time in the match (29:28), which was also the halftime score.
It was not possible to follow up at the end of the first half. At the beginning of the second, Triglav celebrated success with a fearless game and even took back the favorable score of the duel. Thus, the balanced game continued, in which every attack was decided when the score was low. The Slovenian team played the end better, Piešťany had to turn around the unfavorable situation 39:43 before the last part. Čajky did not want to allow a sensation at their expense, so in the fourth quarter, they took a risk with their game. But Triglav converted the offered free chances when they were most needed. Piešťany did not turn the match in their favor at this stage, the result was the first loss in the competition and the most important win for Triglav, which leads them to promotion to Final Four tournament.
Post-game quotes:
Robert Matevžič, coach of Triglav: “First of all, congratulations and praise to my players for the whole weekend. We played a really good game today. The girls showed that they know how to rally after a heavy defeat the day before. We played well in defense, which gave us confidence in attack. Considering all the matches in Alpe Adria Cup, we deserved the final tournament. We will do everything to prepare as well as possible and play the best we know how.”
Lara Kozina Bubnič, player of Triglav: “Today we managed to pull ourselves together after yesterday’s heavy defeat. We stuck to the agreements from the dressing room and played much smarter, and at the same time, we proved that we deserved to reach the final four of the Alpe Adria Cup.”
Peter Jankovič, coach of Piešťany: “It’s hard for me to evaluate this kind of match again. If we enter the duel without soul and heart, then we cannot think that we are Yekaterinburg and we will win with everyone without doing something. I’m sorry because we had some other agreements and nothing paid. I think that the home team deservedly won, they went for the victory, they wanted to succeed. We surrendered again and looked at each other again.”
Radka Stašová, player of Piešťany: “It’s difficult for me to evaluate. I think they played a very good game on Saturday, both offensively and defensively. We were happy to return to the game that graced us in the last weeks and months. Nothing was working out for us.”