Spar Girona peacefully beat Casademont Zaragoza (90-53) in a game that had great incentives; such as the base duel Laia Palau-Anna Cruz, or the debut of the American Michaela Onyenwere, who did not shake his wrist in his debut dressed in red (18 points). The red revolution took its toll on Zaragoza in the second half, where the Girona girls had their particular Christmas dinner hosted by their rivals, who could do nothing but take on defeat. Nearly 3,000 fans accompanied the Spar Girona festival in a day of entertainment everywhere, as many of the attendees also stayed to enjoy the “anti-cinema” held by the club after the match.
Girona came into the game a little slow. The Zaragoza team, led by a successful Vega Gimeno (12 points in the 1st quarter), took the initiative for much of the initial stretch. Those of Alfred Julbe, however, did not take long to equalize the score and thanks to a choral game led by a good defense, they reversed the situation until they were placed with 8 points of advantage at the end of the first quarter. The fans celebrated the first points of the debutant, Michaela Onyenwere, the brand new “rookie” of the WNBA did not take even five seconds to make her first basket. The 22-year-old had an exciting debut that captivated the audience and ended the match with 18 points and 3 rebounds.
In the second quarter, Girona reduced the lead. The Spar went through a phase of nebula with little success in shooting, probably the result of accumulated fatigue and lack of rotation. Zaragoza, with great figures such as Anna Cruz, Vega Gimeno and the American Calhoun, did not take advantage of their opportunities (10/27 in field goals) and Girona reappeared with a great choral basketball (all the players who went play they went to the break with scoring) and with an upward defensive line (21 rebounds) that allowed them to reach the break with eleven points (39-28).
The red revolution came in the third quarter. The coach of Casademont, Carlos Cantero, did not know how to start seeing the bleeding of his team that was left without the ability to react to the imperial confidence of Girona, who began to distance themselves by more than twenty points in the marker. From the bench, the heads of the Aragonese women were almost like the painting of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, the ultimate expression of impotence. Cantero’s team, which ranks eighth in the standings, is playing in the next two games in the 60th edition of the Copa de la Reina, an event to be held in March and for which the Spar already has the ticket insured.
In the last quarter Fontajau began to sing: “booty, booty, booty …” and it is already known that this is synonymous with collective euphoria. The reason was that the score three minutes before the end of the game was pre-freaking: 85-45. After the tachycardias experienced in the last Euroleague matches, yesterday the level of superiority was so obvious that the fans could do nothing but jump. The 2,720 fans, this time, made the pavilion shine and enjoyed a peaceful end to the game where, despite the difference of forty points on the scoreboard, the level of basketball generated by the players was high. They all liked each other, and a lot. And this was reflected in the particular score of each of the players, especially: Onyenwere (18), Flores (15) and Gardner (17). With yesterday’s victory, the Spar said goodbye to the last home game with a great aftertaste and gained momentum for Tuesday’s match against Turkish Fenerbahçe, where the Catalans are playing to maintain the first position in their group. The bad news, however, is still the overload of minutes that the Girona players have to face due to the short rotation of the squad due to the injuries that keep María Araújo and Frida Eldebrink away from the courts. In addition, yesterday the Swedish player Binta Drammeh, who has had stellar performances in recent matches, rested as a precaution and, as confirmed by Spar, her participation on Tuesday is unknown.
Final stretch of 2021
The Spar Girona calendar envisages the end of the year away from home. Girona face the last Euroleague match of 2021 on Tuesday (5pm), a major challenge, as they visit one of the best teams in Europe, Fenerbahce, which has a star-studded squad. After visiting Turkey, Girona have the last game of the year in Galicia against Baxi Ferrol (28/12). The match against the Galicians, however, will have an extra incentive: the expected return of the French escort Magali Mendy who will join the Girona discipline on Saint Stephen’s Day, 26 December.
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