BC "Prometey" (Ukraine) - BC "Castors Brain" (Belgium). January 27. 19:00. EuroCup Women. 1/8 finals. 2nd match. Slobozhanske. SC Slobozhansky. Broadcast - prometeybc.com, Youtube.com/FIBA
The matches of the 1/8 finals of the FIBA European Cup among women are in full blast. Half of the quarterfinalists of the tournament have already been determined. They were the Spanish "Valencia", the French "Bourges", the Greek "Olympiacos" and the Polish club "Polkowice". The fifth ticket to the quarterfinals of the tournament will be determined in today's second match of another club from Poland "Lublin" and French "Villeneuve d'Ascq". Tomorrow, January 27, the winner of the two-match confrontation between the champion of Ukraine "Prometey" and the leader of the Belgian championship, the club "Castors Brain" will become another quarterfinalist of EuroCup Women. The first match of the rivals on the court of the Belgians ended with a minimal victory of "Prometey" (93:92) and became the most productive at the stage of 1/8 finals.
Kyrylo Bolshakov, Prometey sporting director, assessed the match two weeks ago: “In the first match with “Castors Braine”because of Olga Dubrovina’s injury we had sharply reduced rotation in the back line. We lost one of the key players in terms of mobility, tenacity and understanding of defensive actions. Olga cements the whole game of the back line. However all the girls, in the absence of our captain, fulfilled their main tasks. We managed to neutralize the back line of the opponent, but the front line "Castors Brain" unpleasantly surprised us. The Belgians felt their weakness during the match and managed to rebuild the game, switching to the "big" players. In the confrontation of the front lines they gained precedence, especially since Holmes got the fourth foul - after that everything became very difficult for us.
If to talk about some of our players, Ariel Atkins deserves the best words. Ariel is a very experienced player and a great professional. She knows where to save energy, and against a strong opponent will always play to the maximum. Victoria Balaban and Kateryna Rymarenko played very useful, but we expect even more from them. Victoria fights, shows the result. At the moment, our defender is a good player, but we want her to be excellent. Catherine still needs some time. She has already regained mobility and endurance, feels the team, and she has the skills and experience. She just needs to improve all these and make the girls feel even better. "
After a minimal defeat by Prometey, Castors Brain confidently beat the Kortrijk Spurs in the Belgian championship on January 16 - 78:45. The next day, an outbreak of coronavirus occurred in the team, which postponed the second match between Prometey and Castors Brain to January 27.
"There should be a match of equal teams on Thursday. Chanses of both teams are 50/50. In any game we have to fight till the last second, which is what we are going to do," said Kyrylo Bolshakov.
In all the matches of our team this season, she showed self-sacrifice. There is no doubt that tomorrow our girls will do their best for the sake of victory. It will not be useless to remind that the best team by the sum of points scored in two matches will advance to the quarterfinals. If the main time of the match ends in a draw, no overtime will be assigned and Prometey will become a quarterfinalist of EuroCup Women. Overtime is possible only if Castors Brain wins by one point for 40 minutes.
You can follow the course of the second confrontation between the teams on January 27 starting at 19:00 on the Prometey website and on the FIBA YouTube channel. In order to come and support our girls, you need to use the "Online Tickets" section on our club website: prometeybc.com.
