Sunday morning ‘groove’

The pick landed on Ura Basket vs Beat Basket

About 8 games suggested for Sunday, and first to come out of the hat was Ura Basket vs Beat Basket, so – off to Kaarina it was for the 13.00 tip-off of the WU17 D1 regular season game. (and yes – my bag is still covered in glitter from last nights game!!!)

Pre-Game

Quick look at the league table of the WU17 D1 – and this seems to be a crucial game for both teams if they want to get to the playoffs. After this round, both teams have FOUR games to go in regular season.

At the moment playoff place requires 6-6 record after 12 rounds. Beat Basket is one win away – although having played more (5-8). Ura Basket, this really is last chance saloon, their record is 3-10, so it really is a must win for the home team.

End of November, Beat Basket had a ‘party’ in this fixture in Järvenpää – with a 77-33 win. So it is time for either Ura Basket to get one back on the Beat Basket, or Beat Basket to do a sweep of Ura Basket in this seasons league.

Game

Short rosters (8) for both teams for the game.

When the scoreboard after 20 minutes shows 34-35, you expect it to be even. But this is something else..

Shots made : 12 – 13 / 2 points shots made 9-10 / 3 points shots made 7-10 / Freethrows made 7-6 / assists 7-7 / Personal fouls 9-10 / Turnovers 20-20 / Steals 11-14 / Index 30-31

Beat Basket captain Lumi Vihanto has had a strong 20 minutes, with 16 points / 9 rebounds and 7 steals, so – as I write this during halftime.. Lumi – you better get to triple-double by the end of the game 😉

For Ura Basket Stella Gullichsen has already gotten a double-double 11 points and 14 rebounds, as well as 4 steals and 2 blocks

Also little note – first quarter lasted about 30 minutes!! The game was really lot of stop and start, lots of whistles at both ends. I need the second half to be a little faster, as I need to be at the next game by 17.00 … and I have a two hour drive there.

Second Half

From being ONE point down in the half, Ura Basket edged both of the latter quarters (22-20 and 19-16) to win the game and get their fourth win of the season. This leaves the TWO wins from the playoff places – so the end of WU17 D1 will be an exciting one for sure – as there are FIVE teams playing for TWO places in the playoffs!

And FINALLY !! – there was that Triple-Double in a game.. PHEW!

Lumi Vihanto of Beat Basket ended the game with 26 points – 13 rebounds and 12 steals, so big respect for that, even though I am sure the players always would say that it is a ‘team sport’ – so the teams performance always comes first.

For Ura Basket – Stella Gullichsen DID also make a triple-double, but not maybe liking the way it came – 26 points – 24 rebounds and 11 turnovers.. not sure if that counts as a triple-double or not?? But she did also have 5 steals and 2 blocks in the game!

Sofia Fonselius did get FIVE fouls, so ‘only’ had 25 minutes of game time, but 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 steals – nice stats for that game-time.

Emma Hautamäki also got double-digits in rebound, with 12 – to go with 6 points scored.

There was actually a total of 142 rebounds in the game – so no surprise many players did get over 10 rebounds.. and actually EVERY player on the court did get at least one rebound – just like every player did also score at least 2 points.

Kind of ‘annoying’ for the video – that in the last five minutes of the game, Ura Basket (winners) only made one shot from the field. But did make plenty of free throws.. I know it does not matter for the result – but for the video.. a bit.

Close game

As a photographer, close games are always great to shoot – so it was fun to be in Kaarina for the early game on Sunday and to get to capture two new teams (for me) in action this season.