BC "Castors Braine" (Belgium) - BC "Prometey" (Ukraine). January, 13. 20:30. EuroCup Women. 1/8 finals. 1st match. Braine-l'Allie (Belgium). Stad Gaston Raff. Broadcast - prometeybc.com, Youtube.com/FIBA

The women's team of Prometey continues their progress on the EuroCup Women tournament distance. After winning in all regards in their group, Victoria Bolshakova's team was stronger than the Swiss "Elfik Fribourg" in each of two matches of the first round of the playoffs, and now, in the 1/8 finals of the tournament, will play away against the Belgian club "Castors Braine". The second match will take place on January 20 on the Prometey court.

"Castors Braine" represents the city of Brain-l'Allie. They became the champion of Belgium for six times. All these titles were won from 2014 to 2019, and this season the team is also a contender for the championship. In 11 matches of the championship it has not suffered a single defeat. As for Castor Braine's performances in the European Cups, the Belgians took part in the Euroleague four times, although they did not achieve high results there. However, the very fact of participating in the most prestigious continental tournament directly affected the high position of the club in the European hierarchy of women's basketball. The sports director of "Prometey" Kyrylo Bolshakov draws attention to this fact:

"According to many rankings, our opponent is one of the top 16 teams in Europe, which says a lot. "Castors Braine" is a high-level team that has been participating in European tournaments for many years. Belgian basketball is ranked quite  high in the world hierarchy - in the third or fourth position, and several players of "Castors Braine" are part of the national team of Belgium. "

This year's season is the best one for Castors Braine, judging by the team's performances in the Euro arena. They became the best in their group, ahead of the Czech club "Zabino Brno", "Keltern" from Germany and the English "London Lyons". Like Prometey, the team of one of the best coaches in the country, Frederic Dusart, they obtained five victories with one defeat - away from the London Lyons. In the 1/16 finals, Castors Braine beat Israeli club Neve David Ramla twice - 86:75 (away) and 86:79 (home).

"There are seven key players in the team. Three girls of equal class who play in the fourth and fifth positions, including our compatriot Valeria Berezhynska, as well as four defenders who combine a lot on the court, automatically perform a lot of interactions and very active in defense, - says Kyrylo Bolshakov.- The key moment in the "Castors Braine" style is speed. This applies to both the transit attack and the speed of the ball. The ball is not worth a second, constantly flying so that some rivals can’t follow the course of events. "

The main set of seven players (Eislin Koenig, Alice Ramett, Maxwell Lisova Mbaka, Victoria Berezhinskaya, Jessica Lindström, Quinn Dornstauder and Daniella Hamilton-Carter) made a major contribution to both victories over Israel in the previous round. In both matches, the team's most effective player was Maxuela Lisova Mbaka, who also defends the colors of the Belgian national team. Another player of the national team - Alice Ramett - constantly gave her partners 7 assists, while in Israel she scored 14 points, and at home - 19. The performance of Ukrainian Victoria Berezhynska in the last game worth a particular note - double-double, with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

For Castors Braine, tomorrow's match will be the first in 2022 and the team's game may be affected by a three-week absence from official games. Kyrylo Bolshakov pointed out a much more serious problem for his own team:

"Currently we are worried about Olga Dubrovina's condition. The other day a recurrence of her injury happened during training. Her participation in the match is questionable, but we all believe in Olga and in her character. As a player she will always do what is necessary right now. She could play even under the injections, but we need her to be completely healthy. Olga's loss is bad because she is one of those players who creates speed on the court, without her it will be much harder to resist the speedy actions of the Belgians.
 
Some experts evaluate our chances in the confrontation with "Castors Braine" as 30 to 70. But 30 is not 1, not 2 and not 5, and I promise that our girls will fight on the court so that no one will be ashamed of them. ".

Prometey fans are sure that the girls will do their best on the court not only in tomorrow's match, but also in the second one," and the course of the first of the two matches will be followed on January 13, starting at 20:30 on the "Prometey" website and on the FIBA YouTube channel.