The 27 points earned in the first leg of the semi-final had left Valencia BC with almost both feet in the final, but far from settling for the comfortable advantage, the oranges went out from the start to win the match to end up qualifying for the final by the big gate, winning again in front of their fans by 80-60 to meet in the final with Salamanca, who came back against Girona to ensure passage the orange ticket for the Euroleague to have it already in the pocket of his rival as champion of the regular league.
Without the presence of an Awa Fam who had just played in the final of the Spanish Junior Championship and the Final Four with La Cordà Paterna and with an Elena Buenavida who also arrived straight from Estepona (Málaga), the only casualty from the first team due to injury was Raquel Carrera.
Rubén Burgos started with Leti Romero, Queralt Casas, Alina Iagupova, Nadia Fingall and Merritt Hempe, and although it was the national MVP of the League Mariona Ortiz who opened the scoring, it did not take long for Valencia Basket to take control of the match with a first triple from Iagupova and two more from Queralt and Leti Romero, which put the score at 17-8 and forced Carlos Cantero to stop the match.
Hempe and Ginzo had also done damage in the area and, although Diallo also found his options under the circle, Eraunzetamurgil and Queralt closed the first quarter 21-12. Only Mariona, Diallo and Fiebich had scored for the visitors against a Valencia Basket in which six players shared the points, with the captain as top scorer with seven points.
Triples Festival
Paula Ginzo dug into Casademont’s wound in the return to the court with four consecutive points under the basket and, although Nerea Hermosa and Holesinska, with a triple, responded to reduce the differences to 25-19, Valencia Basket again finding in the triples their best weapon to open a gap again, with Iagupova, Leti Romero and Queralt scoring again and again from 6.75, to close the first half 47-32, with a 52% of success from the line of three.
With no time to react, Ouviña opened the second half with a triple that made it 50-32 and froze any hopes the visitors had of working a miracle. The Valencian Vega Gimeno, in her last game in LF Endesa after the announcement of her retirement, scored her first points from a free kick.
The game was tighter and both points came from free kicks, until an 8-2 run by Ouviña, Queralt, Fingall and Hempe put Fonteta up 60-40.
Cantero called a timeout with 4:17 to go before the end of the third period, and on the return to the court the tension returned to the parquet after an action by Diallo on Eraunzetamurgil that ended with the orange going to the locker room between tears while the fans whistled at the Casademont pivot, who was still protesting with Mariona.
Fiebich, with a triple, and Gulbe made the visitors react timidly, but another 5-0 run with a triple from Iagupova and a basket from Ginzo closed the third quarter 67-45.
With the tie already decided, Gülich, Leti Romero and Ouviña responded to every score of the visitors and Rubén Burgos took the opportunity to test, playing a few minutes with Ouviña, Romero and Buenavida together. The Canarian, in a reward for her effort after playing a day earlier in Estepona (Málaga), also added her first points.
Tribute to Vega Gimeno
Moments later, the most emotional moment of the evening arrived, when Vega Gimeno went to the bench after just over two minutes amid the applause of a Fonteta who, on her feet, acknowledged her great career sporty despite never having played for orange. While chanting his name, the game resumed, already with an exchange of inconsequential baskets until reaching the definitive 80-60 before the grand final that starts on Thursday in Salamanca.
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2024-05-06 12:02:44
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