The fifth appointment on the parquet in the space of two weeks. The recovery of a confrontation skipped last December 30 due to the positivity to Covid-19 in the Venetian formation. On the eve of Valentine’s Day, La Molisana Magnolia Campobasso is determined to make a very welcome gift to all basketball ‘lovers’ as well as to herself to put aside the disappointment of the last internal exit against Virtus Bologna, which did not give the #fioridhardware the comfort of the pink report. She will try to do this one more time – the third consecutive chronologically – in the friendly Arena scenario.
CLOSE AROUND And so, without interruption, coach Sabatelli and the rossoblù group dive back into another important appointment.
“Certainly – confirm on the eve of trainer of campobassane – there is no time to analyze the mistakes of the match against Virtus Bologna and we have very little space for the preparation of this match which we are already projected to have. We will try to take the good thing we did on Thursday, where, in the third quarter, we didn’t end up withstanding their impact, not being able to put into practice various aspects of what we had told ourselves to do ».
NO ALIBI Probably, however, that for a team at the moment without very large rotations and with one of its leading elements (the American pivot Reshanda Gray) out for physical problems the four games were also felt in the space of ten days after forty-two. days without competitions.
“We knew it was not going to be an easy time – he replies Sabatelli – but we do not want and must not find alibis, but rather seek the right concentration and the necessary application, mainly from the offensive side. We will be on the field against San Martino di Lupari trying to recover those who are not at the top to try to give some breath even to those who, in this last period, have accumulated more playing time on the parquet ».
CHAPTER GRAY Only the next few hours will define the presence (or not) on the parquet of the American pivot Reshanda Gray.
«We will see if he will have the opportunity to make his contribution – confirm thecoach of the rossoblù team – for what, however, will be in his strings: let’s not forget that his last official confrontation dates back to last December 19th against Faenza, almost two months ».
INDIGESTIVE ANTAGONIST After all, in front of them, the rossoblùs will cross an antagonist against whom they have never hit the pink report. Last season, between the first team and the under 20s, three stops arrived in as many comparisons with the biggest regret linked to the return match in Veneto, when, up to two minutes from the end, the magnolias ended up getting lost one step away from the finish.
«San Martino di Lupari – explains Sabatelli – is a company engaged for several seasons in the A1 series and always with excellent results. We have a complicated race ahead of us because, on the other side, there is an opponent who has a package of foreigners of absolute quality, joined by Italians who are sure to be trusted ».
In fact, at the disposal of coach Lorenzo Serventi (last season at the helm of Virtus Bologna), there are elements of the caliber of play Ilaria Milazzo (who returned to Italy from Poland), as well as former Lucca Russo and Pastrello, together with winger Marcella Filippi, a player returning from the Olympic experience in Tokyo with the Italbasket 3 × 3, absolute senator among the ‘wolves’. In a foreign key, the Americans Chelsea Mitchell and Kelley Shae and the long Latvian Karline Pilabere find space in the yellow and black team.
ITALIAN CUP Recovery of the last round of the first round, the challenge with the Veneto, among other things, will also serve to give a more defined physiognomy to the ranking at the halfway point, decisive for the pairings of the Italian Cup.
For the tricolor trophy which – news of the last few hours – will be hosted right in San Martino di Lupari, the magnolias will have definitive knowledge of their score only at the beginning of March (3 to be exact) when they will play the match valid for the twelfth day in Sesto San Giovanni.
«Try to win the colon with them – asserts Sabatelli – undoubtedly it could have a weight in the perspective of the Italian Cup, but, for our part, now more than ever we need to focus on the present. We want and need to score points to improve our ranking and for this we must be ready. We will think about the rest only later ».
MATCH PLAN To bring the inertia to one’s side in the arc of this dispute, the thought of the trainer of the rossoblùs is very detailed.
«We will have to give life to a concrete tendering procedure. It will be fundamental to pay great attention on a defensive level, while in attack there must be greater serenity in seeking, finding and taking open shots. As? By playing together, without trying to resolve the situations individually, as happened to us in some situations of the third period ».
DTT The challenge between magnolias and wolves, among other things, will have the honor of the national television live on channel 411 of digital terrestrial, as well as going ‘unencrypted’ on the website of Lbftv, the streaming platform of the Women’s Basketball League. With a tap-off at 6 pm on the second Sunday of February (13), the match will be entrusted to the referee direction of a ‘mixed’ triad composed of Alessandro Tirozzi from Bologna, Rosa Anna Nocera from Silana and Rebecca Di Marco from Este.
VISITING LUCANE To make the comparison particular, there will be another important reason. On the occasion of the match, however, ‘La Molisana Arena’ will also be colored by the welcome presence of a large delegation (twenty-one elements, nineteen basketball players and two companions) from the Lucanian formation of Invicta Potenza.
