After the difficult victory against San Martino, for the Magnolia Campobasso it’s time for a challenge that will put the Molise team to the test. Its opponent will be Famila Schio, fresh from the home success in the Euroleague against Girona and thanks to the excellent physical and psychological moment that coach Lapena’s team is experiencing.
The Venetian team is a team that needs no introduction, playing a very different season from that of Magnolia. Schio’s objective is not much to bring home the scudetto, because it practically has no rivals in the Italian championship, but president Cestaro’s ambition would be to get as far ahead as possible in the Euroleague, both due to the budget with which the roster was built and because this is the last season of Giorgia Sottana, one of the legends of Italian women’s basketball.
On the other hand, Magnolia, after being eliminated from the EuroCup, has the objective of “catching” Venice in the standings and arriving in second place, which at the moment is quite far away since although the two teams are absolutely equal in head-to-head matches (one victory each with the same difference), the basket quotient is in favor of the lagoon players. However, if they were to win the big match in Schio, Campobasso would really have the chance to get to second place. Continuing to talk about the match, Schio is favored with a good 65% given the two absences that Campobasso will have for Sunday’s match, namely those of Pastrello and Morrison, although for the former there could be some possibility of returning to Palaromare already.
On the technical side, the duel between Gray and Shepard, two of the best pivots in our championship, will be very “pick and rall'” style, the naturalized Slovenian fresh from the double double with Trentello (31 points and 15 rebounds) produced in the Euroleague against Girona and the Los Angeles native who seems to be “getting her bearings a bit” in the last period. But with Morrison’s absence the main problem will be the defense on the outside, especially on Maria Conde and Kitija Laksa: Simon, Giacchetti and Trimboli will have to be almost perfect.
To conclude, let’s take a look at the other matches: Magnolia should hope for Roseto’s victory against Broni to try to “catch” an easier client in the quarter-finals of the playoffs, and also for Brixia’s victory against Geas – which is very unlikely – to separate the Lombards even further. It goes without saying that, should Sassari win against Reyer in the midday match, it certainly wouldn’t be bad news for the Campobasso team. We’ll see, but for the rest – Eurocup aside – there are two things to regret for Campobasso: the first is not having overturned the difference in goals against Venezia and the second is having lost against Geas. For the rest, what should we say to this team? Simply heroic, and we are convinced that her journey will go a long way this year.
Dario Salvatorelli
