Women’s Basketball League: HBA lost again, PeKa is one win away from the championship

PeKa’s situational hardness is leaving young HBA for silver. Picture: Kalle Koponen / HS

PeKa–HBA 74–66 (wins 2–1)

High school team HBA-Märsky has faced two forced victories in the final matches of the women’s Basketball League, when Kotka Peli-Karhut showed the value of experience on their home floor on Thursday.

HBA’s 1–0 series lead has been turned on its head, and there is no more room for a false step, as the championship will be decided with three wins.

“We didn’t play at our own pace, and fell just short. Let’s forget about these two games and go to the next one,” Aluel Machol said Ruudu in a TV interview.

Fast ball movement in attack and active all-court defense earned HBA a historic playoff berth.

The team is cheering on youth European Championship medalists, so the quality and breadth of the lineup is sufficient to play trendy modern basketball.

However, PeKa, who won six of the previous seven SM golds, has been able to shake its young challenger with its experience.

The number one in the regular season has hit the offensive rebounds with a hard attitude, which the Eagles took 15-8 on Thursday. HBA’s zero points from counter-attacks can also be considered a significant statistic of the three-game series.

In any case, PeKa has managed to absorb the joy of HBA’s ball game.

“We made small mistakes in defense, which brought us the victory today”, Veera Mantykivi said after the three-way game.

These mistakes included, for example, increasing switching on ball screens and giving quick pressure to the defensive rebound seeker.

The purpose is to make the game slower and more individual-oriented because it favors PeKa.

Although HBA’s lineup is developing into the brightest diamonds in Finnish basketball, there are Delanie Crawford and Lauren Heard better players at the moment.

Fourth the final will be played in Urhea-halli on Sunday, and the series of final matches will continue with a cycle of two rest days until the end if necessary.

The game days were talking even before the start of the first round match, when Ruuttu’s expert, basketball legend Taru Tuukkanen estimates that a calm pace favors PeKa.

The Kotka players have tightened their rotation to seven players, while HBA has continued with ten players, which is exceptionally wide for the final matches.

Every third day has been on the other hand through the playoffs, so the change would have been surprising.