Yellow Birds bounced back on Sunday after a weak first quarter back and has taken a 1-0 lead in the best of 3 semi-final in the women’s main division of the Surinamese Basketball Association. Ballers Club Wanica (BCW) was defeated 63-46. Game 2 is on June 28.
Text and image Terence Oosterwolde
As the match started and the first quarter was going on, it seemed to be a long afternoon for Yellow Birds. The team scored only nine points in the first ten minutes and faced a deficit of eight points: 9-17. “We have missed a lot,” says assistant coach Chayenne Naarden the True Time. “We have a lot fastbreak had balls and missed. And things went downhill for a while in defense, but we picked it up after that.”
“It’s best-of-3 so we’ll have to come back anyway otherwise we’ll be out”
BCW coach Rian Jambo
After Damaris Klas of Yellow Birds tied the score (9-9) at 3:15, BCW closed the quarter with an 8-0 run off. Switching to one man-to-mandefense completely disrupted the Yellow Birds build-up, making it turnovers rained on that team.
Naarden about that period. “It’s not that we had any trouble with them man-to-man. I think we wanted to play too hastily. I told my ladies that we are just that man-to-man we wanted and expected.” Ultimately, the Yellow Birds managed to recover. “We started playing a little calmer, started trusting each other and we picked up the defense,” Naarden explains the turnaround.
Yellow Birds-guard Naomi Feller opened the second quarter immediately three pointer (12-17), whose attack was immediately countered by Shakya Peroti of BCW, who hit from the same distance: 20-12. Her team took a 24-16 lead with 4:48 left after two free throws from Lakenia Bel and a basket from Rinolda Domini, but then the game completely turned around.
Decisive runs
Onna Fang gave nine seconds after that with one three pointer the start of a 12-0 runin which Martiëna Monkau (four points) and Chiniqua Pengel (two) also scored. The series ended with a second one three pointer from Fang, turning an eight-point deficit into a 28-24 lead with 1:39 left. The halftime score was 28-26.
In the third quarter Bel immediately equalized for BCW: 28-28 with 8:57 to go. However, the team would not score for seven minutes after that. When Melnija Paal used a free throw with 1:33 to play, the deficit was already ten points: 29-39. Peroti also had two free throws eight seconds later, but thanks to a final basket by Seregay Blankendal, Yellow Birds closed this phase with 41-31.
This lead was not threatened in the last ten minutes, as BCW shot itself in the fingers turnovers and missed balls. Yellow Birds scored the first six points of the quarterbefore Peroti made BCW’s first basket at 7:17: 33-47. After consecutive baskets from Blankendal, Yellow Birds had its largest lead at 4:54: 53-35, before eventually achieving a 63-46 victory.
Game 2
Despite the win, Naarden admitted that Yellow Birds had a lot turnovers made. “Yes, we have to play calmer. Don’t take shots in a hurry or give passes randomly. As soon as we play calmer, we will succeed.” In any case, she sees plenty of room for improvement. “We are going to work on that during training on Tuesday.”
Game 2 awaits in a week. Naarden leaves no doubt about her approach: “We are not going for a loss. We want to make it 2-0 and complete the series!”
Opponent Rian Jambo realizes that winning the second match is his only chance of survival. “It is best of 3 so we will have to come back anyway otherwise we will be out.”
That’s his team after the first quarter collapsed, according to him, has a simple explanation: “Laziness!” he mentions as a reason. “My players started playing lax. In response to the Yellow Birds defense, we had to make our shots and we didn’t. Later it got worse, because we also missed layups and free throws. Then you don’t want to end up in the final.”
He now sees his main task as boosting morale within his team. “I will have to do something about the motivation of the players. Actually, it is largely up to them, but as a coach I will have to try to do that. If that doesn’t work, we will have a hard time.”
“We are not going for a loss. We want to make it 2-0 and finish the series!”
Yellow Birds assistant coach Chayenne Naarden
Asked why motivation is less now in the play-off, as he believes, Jambo says: “They are youth players. Only Peroti is in the major league. So nerves are probably also playing tricks on them. Yellow Birds has an experienced team and has the best scorer in the country (Chiniqua Pengel, … ed.). So experience is possible, nerves are possible, but we will come back harder in game 2,” promises the BCW coach.
Although BCW is a neighborhood association – its registered office is in Hanna’s Lust – the support was disappointing on Sunday. Jambo: “It’s difficult, the sport awareness unfortunately there isn’t one in the area. And if you see that parents of players do not come to support themselves, then you already know how far we have come. I do it the other way around. I attend all my children’s matches, but not everyone can instill that in you.” By the way, Yellow Birds also had hardly any supporters.
Pengel led Yellow Birds with one gaming high 24 points, while Monkau contributed ten points. Beyonce Jedini (two three pointers) led BCW with sixteen points, captain Peroti (one three pointer) had thirteen
