Roosa Lehtoranta – tough start to the season

You could be forgiven to lose the count of how many Lehtoranta’s there are in the Finnish Naisten Korisliiga, or Korisliiga. If there would be mixed series, I would think the Lehtoranta’s would for a starting five in one of those teams.

When checking on the facts about Roosa, I was surprised that she is only 21 years old – as her playing career at the top level of Finnish basketball started already in 2013-14, when she averaged 10 minutes per game for PeKa (where two of her sisters play at the moment – remember, how many Lehtoranta’s???) and averaged over 10 points per game.

Roosa came through the junior system at PeKa – and played for them four season at the top level, before making the switch last season to Tapiolan Honka.

Honka were the losing bronze medal game opponents to HyPo last season, and Roosa admits that their season hasn’t gotten to the best of starts. Only last week their got their second win, and along that they’ve had couple of tight losses – as well as few games where they didn’t perform to the level they had hoped. But – she believes that with hard grind at the training, their ship will right itself and sail in the right direction.

Finnish league teams struggle to keep hold of their imports from year to the next, and Honka also lost their imports from last year, and as the experienced Heta Korpivaara decided to call it a day.. it left a huge hole to be filled in their system.

But will it be the enthusiasm of youth that will pay off come the hard end of the season, as Roosa points out that the ‘oldest’ player in their roster at the moments is only 25 years old. So – plenty of future talent to see at Honka games!

As for what the team is looking for in this season, their aim to develop their game and be the ‘best version of themselves’ on the court – adding that there is huge potential in the roster and a great coach.

Can Roosa cook?? In her own words, if it involves mince meat or chicken.. she’ll be OK. So – not a gourmet chef … yet 😉

Roosa has also made her way to the senior national team, Susiladies – and has made 12 appearances since her debut in 2016. Talking of national team – the Susiladies are back at training camp next week – as they prepare for the last two qualifying games (home vs Slovenia and away to Romania). Be sure to catch their home game against the strong Slovenian side next week at Kisahalli in Helsinki.