LFB (Spain) 6/2008 - Rivas Ecópolis 63, Extrugasa 61

A team can turn its season around two ways - by beating a series of weak teams, or by beating one good team. Extrugasa (2-4) hoped to knock off the leader of the LFB, Rivas Ecópolis (6-0), a team that has the same Eurocup obligations as Extrugasa. A basket by Rivas Ecópolis sealed the win for the visitors 63-61 with just three seconds left.

The boxscore of the game is here. Since there is no quarter-by-quarter score (???), we're going to have to depend on a write-up by Rivas Ecópolis to tell the whole story. That writeup is here.

Neither team could get the advantage over the other in the first half, which ended 38-36...but in favor of whom, I can't tell. Rivas Ecópolis lept to a third quarter lead holding Extrugasa to just seven third quarter points, leading 54-45 with 10 minutes ago. However, Extrugasa tied it up in the final two minutes, and Jelene Dubljevic hit a bucket with three seconds left that gave Rivas Ecópolis the win.

One advantage of Rivas Ecópolis is that they shot better - 51 percent to 38 percent. The rebounding battle seems close, but Extrugasa earned more offensive rebounds than Rivas Ecópolis, getting more second-chance shots. Both teams had the same number of turnovers.

Extrugasa had another day of dismal free throw shooting. They only shot 60 percent from the line. Isaac Fernandez needs to tell his team to work on that. There's no way they're going to win ball games that way. That is...unless the other teams shoot even worse that you do.

Rivas Ecópolis only shot 43 percent. Furthermore, they sent Extrugasa to the line 20 times. This resulted in six more points off free throws than Rivas, in essence, six points given away. I'm surprised that Extrugasa was able to keep it so close.

For the home club, Tamera Young led all players with 19 points - her injured thigh and her limp must not have slowed her down too much. Katia da Silva had six points and 11 rebounds for Extrugasa, and Sara Gomez added 13 points on her own.

What about Rivas Ecópolis? Matching Tamera Young's performace was Clara Bermejo Moreno, who had 12 points and six rebounds. Four players for Rivas Ecópolis would score in double figures. Jelena Dubljevic scored 10 points for Rivas Ecópolis. Catherin Joens, a player with American nationality, scored 13 points. I don't know if Catherin was a college player, a WNBA player or what...Google keeps the matter a mystery. Looking at the Rivas Ecópolis website, she's listed as Mary Elizabeth Joensen with a birthdate of February 12, 1981...which only confuses things further.

It's a shame we don't have a better boxscore. There's a great game hidden in there somewhere. What we know without reading the boxscore is that Extrugasa can't be carried on the back of Tamera Young all by herself - they need to sign someone, unless Meredith Alexis took their money home with her. Maybe he should work on those free throws - the way Spanish teams are hitting them, hitting 80 percent at the stripe might win you a championship.

P. S.: Rebecca in the comments suggests that Catherin Joens is actually Cathy Joens of the Chicago Sky. To which I reply - yep, you're absolutely right!