A disastrous second quarter (23-13) has doomed Spar Girona’s options in the pending duel that has brought them up against Barça CBS at the Juan Carlos Navarro pavilion. Girona, who had just lost in Fontajau against Araski, ended up losing by 16 points and, despite reacting in the last quarter, failed to turn the score around. Barça’s Canadian pivot, Ruth Hamblin, was the game’s top scorer with 17 points. The Blaugrana, who haven’t lost in their fortress for 1,012 days, have become the black beast of Girona, whom they have already defeated up to three times this year. Spar’s defeat dynamits the classification in the Liga Endesa, which remains in a multiple draw with up to six teams (Saragossa, Perfumerías, Valencia, Gernika, Girona and Barça) tied with seven wins and three losses.
The task was not at all easy and, although the women from Girona took the lead, Anna Cruz tied the match and Carolina Guerrero put the locals ahead (12-10) in a duel that took on cruising speed with a high rate of annotation. Bernat Canut slowed down the game in the face of the ease with which Isaac Fernández’s players found the hoop and Spar reacted by getting back on the scoreboard.
Ainhoa López, a well-known face in the Uni ranks, started the second quarter with a 2+1 to put the home side back in front. The Blaugrana moved the ball brilliantly, taking advantage of the mobility of their players and taking outside shots to make it a 16-2 run. Mircheva hit the spot with a three-pointer that gave the home side the maximum advantage (32-21). Uni collapsed in attack, with only 2 points in seven minutes, a fact that Davies took advantage of to widen the gap to 14 points. Bernat Canut was desperate on the sidelines and, fortunately, the Girona girls reacted with a 0-5 run to reduce the distance (37-28).
Barça paused the game and took advantage of the visitors’ uncertainty to maintain their distance. Spar Girona tried to respond, but in attack where things were going and in defense neither. Canut has chosen to change the defensive system and bet on defending in the area, but the locals have been stretching the score and extending the distances to 16 points with the Canadian pivot, Ruth Hamblin, doing absolutely everything under the hoop in defense and in attack However, the duo formed by Cornelius and Tolo took advantage of Canadian Hamblin’s minutes of rest to cut the gap to 10 points.
Tolo dropped all ten points from the free throw and the game heated up, showing the tension in a couple of individual duels. The number of fouls has increased exponentially, putting both teams in a bonus. Gardner put Uni within seven and Tolo reduced the gap even further from the free throw (61-56). With five minutes still to play, Fernández didn’t wait any longer to remove the Canadian pivot to stop the Girona revolution. The Hamblin-Cruz connection was effective and Barça extended the distance to seven points. A three-pointer from Anderson stretched the score in favor of the home team (68-60), Gardner scored two points from the free throw, but Drammeh was unlucky from the perimeter. Uni got to 4 (68-64) and a huge triple by Araújo put Spar within two points (69-67) with five seconds left. But it was too late. Anderson, from the free throw, has finished placing the definitive 70-67 on the scoreboard.
Tribute to Maria Planas
Before the start of the game, the Juan Carlos Navarro pavilion paid a meaningful tribute to Maria Planas, recently included in the FIBA Hall of Fame.
