Recap of the week – Naisten Korisliiga

Another week behind us in Naisten Korisliiga – so what has happened this week?

Once again, only six games played this week, so most teams only got that single game – exception being Kouvottaret, who player two games.

Let’s start with Kouvottaret – not a great week for them. First a closely contested home game vs FoA in Kouvola, Game that ebbed this way and that way, with FoA keeping the lead most of the time, and starting to stretch it in the third quarter. But the home team brought it to a tied situation at 61-61 with six minutes to go – but FoA’s Mia Loyd and Meral Bedretin made sure the points traveled back to Forssa. In their second game of the week, Kouvottaret came against resurgent PeKa – and were not in the races this time 85-47 the end result. The standout player this week for Kouvottaret – Camille Zimmerman, maybe not her best games of the season, but still a solid performance.

In this weeks other games, HyPo continued their strong season with a 101-65 win in the top of the table game vs EBT in Hyvinkaa. HyPo never gave a chance in this team to EBT, and ran away with the game from the first minutes onwards. After the loss on the opening day, HyPo have gone from strength to strength and are deservedly topping the league table as we head to the International break.

For EBT – they hope this was just a one-off – and against the top team in the league. As they look to train and rest for the next two weeks before returning to action.

Catz have also started to find their stride in the league, winning at home vs FoA – who came from 75-66 to 76-75 in the last minutes, but the home team held on to a nervy win. Alongside the three Americans, players like Petra Noponen and Roosa Kosonen and putting big minutes and contributing to the scoring. Noponen might have had a slight off-day with her three point shooting this time – but she is a player who you don’t want to leave unguarded behind the perimeter.

Tapiolan Honka snapped their second win in eight days, as they overcame ViVe in Tapiola, by 10 points. Sydney Cook putting on a MVP performance in the game. For ViVe – long away journey and returning empty handed back home – their comeback not helped by the fifth foul for Amy Griffin in the last quarter. Honka seem to be finding their game, after struggling at the start of the season, and now two good weeks of training – be it with out Roosa Lehtoranta, who joins the Susiladies (National Team) camp on Monday morning.

For ToPo, hunt for their first win in Naisten Korisliiga goes on, once again getting close, as they fell by 10 points vs HBA. ToPo came against unstoppable Sara Bejedi in the game on Saturday. For ToPo – in my view – I have enjoyed the performances of Ida Myllyoja, once again hitting 14 points and 5 assists. As the players have said, it is taking time to get adjusted from 1st Division to Naisten Korisliiga – but the belief is strong that the wins will start coming. And who would want to bet against that – the couple of close games they’ve had, could have turned either way.

As we head to two weeks of International games, the League Table stands :

Team   Played   Wins  Loss  Points

HyPo      7             6         1         12

EBT        8             6          2        12

FoA        8             5           3        10

Catz       6             4           2         8

Kouvottaret       4            4          8

PeKa      7          3             4          6

HBA       7          3             4            6

Honka   8          3             5           6

ViVe       6          2              4          4

ToPo      7          0              7           0