Vilpas Women – Div. II Western Region Champions!!
End of season – big games!
a week or so ago I popped to another Western II division game of Salon Vilpas Women – this one was the BIG one! Two teams in their penultimate games of the season, both teams with one defeat so far during the whole season.
What was at stake?
Game had a huge stake in it as the winner would be crowned the Champions of Women’s Western Region II Division, and thus get a chance to be promoted to the first division for the season 2025-26.
Place that Vilpas would have liked already for this season, but it went to Joensuun Kataja.
Run of play
Right from the tip-off one could see the game meant something for both teams, as well as for the over 200 spectators in the stands.
Some nervy plays from both teams in the opening minutes with the visitors taking the early lead, after which the game went from basket to basket and score to score.
Turning point, or is it?
With the scores at 49-47 for the home team after 26 minutes of play, the home team go for a MASSIVE 21-to-1 run – with Miisa Aaltonen and Hilla Mäkynen taking charge of scoring.
With the scores at 70-49, it looks like game over and Vilpas cruising to the victory and the regional title of II Division!
One more twist in the tale?
In basketball nothing is as certain as the fact that it is a ‘game of runs’ – and the visitors turn the screw and nerves are starting to show in the home team, with the end of the game 18 points to 5 run closing the gap to only 10 points in the closing stages and having the momentum their way.
Clock runs down
But – not enough time and the home team hold the lead and stabilise the game to hold on to a 75-65 win. No huge celebrations at the end, as the regional title does not yet guarantee a promotion to the first division.
I talked to coach Jere Anttila about the promotion and how it works later in the day, but it seemed to be a complicated matter and he pointed at Tom Westerholm (who was also at the Vilpas-Korihait game) and said that ‘there is the man who could explain to you how it all works!’ )
What next?
Some of the regional leagues are still going on, and maybe there are some types of Final 4 playoffs or something – I really do not know for sure. But what ever the case, Vilpas Women do have a chance to get the promotion they already wanted for this season … watch this space and let’s see what the coming weeks bring.
Greetings to Norrköping 😉
In the interview coach Anttila send some greetings to a certain player from Salo, who these days plays their basketball in Norrköping in Sweden… 😉
