In a match where both teams did not have their best day offensively, Yellow Birds managed to come out on top on Sunday (today) with 42-29. The team therefore took a 2-1 lead over defending champion De Arend in the best of 5women’s final of the Surinamese Basketball Association.
Text and image Terence Oosterwolde
Neither coach was satisfied with the offensive input from their players. “A very bad attack and a mediocre one defense”, Chayenne Naarden, assistant coach of Yellow Birds, summarizes game 3 in conversation with the True Time. “But we won. And in the end that is important.”
“My ladies have to play more calmly in attack and just keep working hard in defense”
Yellow Birds assistant coach Chayenne Naarden
Arend coach Mitchell Zeefuik agreed that the offensive was a bad day for his team. “Open shots, open layups and missed free throws, then you will lose, yes,” he responds the True Time. “We are never used to scoring only 29 points in four quarters.”
Rough start
On Sunday, more than three minutes had been played before a goal was scored. Yellow Birds-guard Seregay Blankendal scored the first point of the game from a free throw at 6:52. Then teammate Chiniqua Pengel scored (3-0), before De Arend countered with seven points in a row, including five from the young Telma Prika: 7-3. At 1:10 Pengel made the last basket of the period: 5-7.
In the second quarter the Yellow Birds top scorer immediately asserted himself. Pengel took all the points in a 9-2 run, including a logo three pointer just past the halfway line, putting her team up 14-9 with 5:35 to play.
In the last three minutes, Johmera Cabenda ensured that De Arend came back. She made good use of her physical superiority and resolutely punished nonchalance in Yellow Birds. She scored twice after hitting the offensive rebound had taken after a missed free throw, allowing De Arend to close to 13-14 with 2:32 to go. With free throws from Gabriëlla Monkau of De Arend (1) and the Yellow Birds duo Naomi Feller (1) and Pengel (2), the halftime score of 17-14 was reached.
(read more below the photo)
Tension
In the third quarter Chelsea Slagveer ensured that the tension was back again when she brought De Arend alongside with her only basket at 4:23: 20-20. But once again Pengel helped Yellow Birds out; this time with one at-the-buzzer three-pointer: 23-20 with 3:35 to go.
However, De Arend did not give up and after a free throw from Seymone Esajas, a basket and a free throw from Prika, the team even took the lead with 44.2 seconds: 24-23. But exactly fourteen seconds later, Blankendal launched one with 30.2 seconds three pointermaking Yellow Birds the quarter closed 26-24.
At the start of the last ten minutes, both teams lost the ball. With 8:48 left, Pengel used one free throw for the first point of the final period. Then both teams missed a few times, before Ketura Neede and Pengel scored twice for Yellow Birds within forty seconds: 31-24.
final blow
From 6:46, after a time-out from Yellow Birds, De Arend switched to a full court man-to-man-defense. With two free throws, Martiëna Monkau ensured that Yellow Birds increased to 33-24, while with a three pointer Pengel provided the largest lead: 36-24.
With 2:45 she gave De Arend the final blow with a crucial one from an assist from Naomi Feller three-point play: 40-26. Blankendal and Pengel each had one free throw for Yellow Birds in the remaining time, while Marica (free throw) and Esajas (field basket) scored the last three points for De Arend. This made the final score 42-29 for Yellow Birds.
Emotions
Despite the important victory, Naarden saw plenty of negatives. “My ladies have to play more calmly in attack and just keep working hard in defense,” she says. “We are really still hammering on the defense. Occasionally we succeeded, but then again there were moments – especially in the first half – where we simply stood in defence. Only after halftime they started to defend themselves a bit.”
Naarden is not surprised that there were small disturbances in the game. “The championship is at stake. It is a play-off and I sometimes understand the frustrations of certain players, but sometimes it is not necessary. Maybe it is a tactic to take players out of their game, but I urge my ladies to leave it and stay calm, because we need all our players … all of them.”
Yellow Birds could not call on the experienced Onna Fang on Sunday. She suffered a hamstring injury in the second match. “It’s always difficult when you don’t have players. For example, I can’t just change my point guard, because the other one is injured. We hope she will be there for the next game.”
Different rotation
Zeefuik does not want to attribute the fact that De Arend had a hard time in attack to the pressure of the match. “I don’t think so. We were relaxed with each other during the week. We talked about and looked at what went wrong. And everyone was aware of what we did wrong. But yes, if you don’t score mi man, dan yu o lasi a prey”, he makes clear.
Remarkable was the unusual five with which Zeefuik finished fourth quarter started: Marica, Priscilla Chen, Prika, Cabenda and Migyeta Helsstromen. The coach said: “I actually wanted the ball to go in more, but the person who had to distribute the game had made a few small, wrong decisions. But we also got balls, but we didn’t score.”
Zeefuik also saw other things that were against him. “I don’t want to talk about the referees, but zero fouls for Yellow Birds for six minutes, while I was just bringing balls to … I then thought: ‘eh, then I should lose today’.”
Do or die
Game 4 will be played on July 26. If you win, Yellow Birds will be the new champion. “We are going to approach the match as if we were 1-2 behind,” Naarden looks ahead. “We’re going to talk about the defense. I talk a lot about the defense, because the attack comes naturally. With a good one defense you can do a lot. So we are going to focus more on defense.”
“Open shots, open layups and missed free throws… then you’re going to lose, yes”
The Arend coach Mitchell Zeefuik
The content of the week leading up to game 4 will not differ much from before, says Zeefuik. “It will be the same again: making analyses, talking to them, pointing out where we made mistakes… Besides, it is already known; De Arend did not score. If my players are aware that that is the problem, then it should be 2-2, yes,” he sounds optimistic.
Pengel, the only Yellow Birds player to score above ten points, led her team with one gaming high 29 points, as many as De Arend as a whole. She scored three three pointers. For the defending champion, Prika was the only player in double figures with ten points.
