October 21, 2010 : Supercup for Sparta&K

Bigger battles will be fought for both Sparta&K Moscow Region and Sony Athinaikos this season but on Monday night in Athens, the two clubs gave European fans something to savor. The two sides thrilled Athens with the second running of the SuperCup Women and once again, just as they did in Vidnoje one year ago against Galatasaray, Sparta&K prevailed.

In one what billed as a celebration of women's basketball, the team that has dominated the European game for four consecutive years - reigning EuroLeague Women champions Sparta&K - again finished on top, winning 70-61. 4. Dimitra Kalentzou (Sony Athinaikos)
Dimitra Kalentzou led the Sony Athinaikos charge in the second quarter

Monday's contest had an All-Star Game type of feel. The silky smooth Sparta&K star Noelle Quinn's 18 points led all scorers. Greece was excited to host the contest, if only because women's basketball has taken some giant steps forward the past couple of years. In 2009, the national team made a surprise fifth-place finish at the EuroBasket Women in Riga to earn a place at the FIBA World Championship for Women for the very first time. Some of those players followed up that wonderful achievement with an incredible run in Greece with Athinaikos. They went undefeated in the Greek league, won the domestic cup and also captured the EuroCup Women title. In the first week of October, Greece played in their last games at the World Championship in the Czech Republic.

Dimitra Kalentzou was among them. She has as much grit and determination as any of the Greek players, refusing to sit out this summer after having ankle surgery and instead going to Ostrava to help the Greeks as they almost booked a place in the Quarter-Finals. On Monday inside the Maroussi arena, Kalentzou was at it again. Her three-pointer with 6:46 to go in the second quarter cut Sparta&K's advantage to 22-21.

Almost on cue, as Ilona Korstin has done so many times before, she ignited a game-winning 12-0 run with a three-point play. Sparta&K ended up going in front by 20 in the third quarter but Athinaikos, urged on by the home support, never gave in and managed to reduce to the deficit to just 61-55 with 5:39 to play. Greek teams always make things interesting and when two free-throws by Olga Chatzinikolaou fell through the hoop with 2:13 left, the Sparta&K lead was suddenly 62-59. Quinn's jump shot and two free-throws by Korstin stopped the rally, though, and the visitors held on for the win. The fans got what they wanted and that was an entertaining 40 minutes.

Kalentzou and Aikaterina Sotiriou each finished with 12 points for Athinaikos, while former FIBA Europe Women's Player of the Year Anete Jekabsone-Zogota chipped in with 10 for the winners and Ilona finished with 15 pts...

Ilona: "After the CM, there was very little time to recover physically and mentally. Nearly two weeks after the last match in the Czech Republic, started the championship of Russia.

If we talk about the composition of Sparta & K this season we can say that our team has changed almost 70%. The biggest losses are, of course, departures from Fowles and Taurasi, but I'm sure the coaches will find a way to compensate for the loss of these players.

Main acquisition in the offseason for our club was Lauren Jackson: She will join the team at the start of the Euroleague. Also note the arrival of Noelle Quinn, who played in our team two years ago. The main leader is Epiphany Prince, who, incidentally, has a Russian passport. Irina Sokolovskaya replaces Karpunin Marina, who received a serious knee injury, and Jelena Milovanovic will also be there. In addition, we signed the hopes Grishaev, Katja and Jan Ruzanova Panevin, promising young players.

I hope this programming, we will be able to compete for first place in the Russian league and the Euroleague. After the first victory in Russia in the Russian league, our team went to Athens, the European Super Cup. This is a meeting between the Euroleague champion and the champion of the European Cup. This season, the organization has been given to the club Afinaikos, Greek club. After a rainy autumn in Moscow, we were happy to be back in the summer and see a blue sky sunny Athens. For three days in Greece we had the time to visit the Acropolis museum, walk around the city, go to the orphanage, and even go shopping. In Greece, yet felt the crisis, in stores overpriced and not a single buyer Greek

In this season of "Sparta & K" has a lot of newcomers, so the game against Afinaikosa is a real test for all. We had little time to play, but we were together.

At the beginning of the match, it was played on an equal footing, but slowly because of cons-attaqueq successful and a good percentage we avonscreusй away nearly 20 points. Our discipline in the organization enabled us to retain the advantage until the final siren to win the first trophy of the season. And even though I know the Supercup - not the most important tournament of that year to win and what a pleasure to win medals, including gold! "

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