Duel of strategies today on the benches of Fontajau. Spar Girona beat Perfumerías Avenida winning by 26 in what is probably one of the biggest victories in the history of this classic. Today was the second meeting between the two teams in less than 10 days, but the audience, this time, was European. The match began with an emotional minute of silence in tribute to centenarian Encarna Hernández, known as La Niña del Gancho, after her passing this week.
Michaela Onyenwere opened the scoring from the perimeter and after an initial half of 0-5, the locals put their batteries in to tie the game. A 2+1 by Faustine Parra placed a minimal difference of four points (17-13). Today saw a first quarter in which the Castilians dominated in rebounding but in which Bernat Canut’s players prevailed offensively and prevented their rivals from playing fluently.
The score was frozen at the start of the second quarter, with offensive inaccuracies on the part of both teams that made it difficult to advance on the scoreboard. Roberto Íñiguez’s were down with only 6 points in the entire quarter and Spar took advantage of that to stretch the score and place a maximum difference of 14 (31-17). Roberto Íñiguez watched in disbelief from the sidelines and entered the dressing room tunnel with his head bowed before the superiority of the local team led by great performances from Rebekah Gardner and María Araújo.
After the break, Cravendakic warmed up his wrist with a triple that cut distances. Bernat Canut’s players, with numerous second options thanks to offensive rebounds, maintained and extended the distance. Two triples, Gardner and Cronelius, woke up the Fontajau pavilion but the ever-present captain Sílvia Domínguez prevented the Spar’s rush. Faustine Parra woke up from the perimeter and Roberto Íñiguez, losing by 22 points, stopped the game with a timeout.
The last quarter started with a scrimmage under the basket that ended with a technical by Gardner and an unsportsmanlike one by Vilaró. Perfumerías tried, without success, to cut points from the perimeter but did not have the day (6/18 in T3). Spar played a very solid game in defense and Roberto Íñiguez’s face, unable to find solutions to turn the score around, was a poem. The team took a historic victory winning by 26 points (74-48) at Perfumerías Avenida.
