Thursday 07 November 2024 21:03
The Hungarian women’s basketball team surprisingly lost 83-68 to the Bulgarians in Miskolc on Thursday in the third round of the European Championship qualifying series, thus suffering their first defeat in the series.
Women’s Basketball European Championship Qualifier, Group B, Round 3:
Hungary-Bulgaria 68-83 (23-20, 10-31, 18-15, 17-17)
The scorers: Juhász 21, Dubei 9, Studer 9, Határ 8, Kiss 7, Lelik 6, Kányási 3, Dombai 3, Török 2, and Hillsman 25, Hrisztova 25, Ivanova 12, Konstantinova 10, Dimitrova 6, Nikolova 3, Petrova 2
Miskolc turned out to be a mostly good omen for the national team, which has lost only once in the city of Borsod out of five European qualifiers since November 2017. In addition, in February of last year, they beat the Romanians there 74-58, and with that success they reached the European Championship, which finished in fourth place.
Thursday’s battle started with the team captain Debóra Dubé’s great break, then 6-0, then the audience applauded the triple of Réka Lelik, who plays for the domestic club. In the sixth minute, it was 19-9 on the clock, Dubei held eight points, on the other side, mainly the 196 cm Hillsman worked effectively under the backboard.
Everything was gone in a quarter of an hour
In the continuation, after an unsportsmanlike mistake by Ágnes Studer, the opponent led for the first time in the match (25-27), and in half a quarter, 30 came in response to eight domestic points. Before long, the guests’ advantage increased to 16 points, the Hungarian throws were missed in a row, and Lelik’s triple came brilliantly at “minus” 17 points. Due to Karina Konsztantinova’s three-pointer, the score was 33-51 at the break, and the Bulgarians led the second quarter 31-10, with Hillsman scoring 16 points and Hrisztova 14 points.
After a half-time change, the rival scored his sixth triple, leading by 20 points, and three Hungarian attacks ended without results in a 14-point deficit. Hillsman, on the other hand, scored his 19th and Hrisztova his 20th point, and the hosts had no one to pull the team out of the “hole”, moreover, several of the key players struggled with foul problems. With a difference of twenty-two points (44-66), the match seemed to be decided, the last act started with 51-66.
With the baskets of Dorka Juhász, WNBA finalist with the Minnesota Lynx, the distance was reduced to nine points several times, but it was not possible to get any closer to the Bulgarians. Völgyi-gárda could not correct the collapse in the second quarter, so they suffered their first defeat in the qualifying series.
On Sunday, the Hungarians will visit the Slovenians, who are also 2/1, in Ljubljana.
Source: molcsapat.hu
