LFB (Spain) Semifinals 2/2008 - Ros Casares 96, San José 77

For San José, it's been a disappointing conclusion to the regular and post-seasons. San José threatened a strike at the end of the regular season because the club was months behind on their payments (the native players were paid back all but two months; the foreign players were played in full). At the end of the season, they met Ros Casares, lost the first game, and in a must-win situation ended up losing the deciding game 96-77 at home.

Ros Casares will move on to the finals against either Rivas Ecopolis or Perfumerias, which are tied 1-1 in their best-of-three series. San José's season is over.

The box score is here.

San José did not win a single quarter of the game. They were down 22-18 at the end of the first quarter, and El Ros extended their lead to 12 points by halftime, 49-37. Ros Casares scored 27 points in the third quarter and took a 76-57 lead into the final quarter of the game. San José could only muster up 20 points in the final 10 minutes.

Ros Casares hit 58 percent of their attempted field goals, and went 7-for-17 from 3-point range. San José did well, hitting 46 percent, but Ros Casares was simply much better. Ros Casares held slight margins in rebounding and turnovers over the home team. San José went 11-for-14 from the free throw line...but Ros Casares went 17-for-22.

San José

Shay Murphy: 15 points, 6 rebounds from the Washington Mystics player.
Maria Sanchez-Aguilera: 16 points, 5 turnovers.
Kimberly Butler: 9 points, 3 rebounds for the Oregon State graduate.
Shona Thorburn: 7 points for the ex-Seattle Storm player.

Ros Casares

Candace Wiggins: 20 points, 3 rebounds. Candace hasn't had a big game for El Ros in a long time; today was her day to shine.
Elisa Lopez: 15 points.
Delisha Milton-Jones: 15 points, 4 rebounds.
Erika de Souza: 9 points, 10 rebounds.
Amaya Valdemoro: 13 points, 4 rebounds.

Postscript: Figuring out what Ibiza and Sancho Lyttle are playing for right now is almost impossible. I know it involves the Eurocup, but I don't have any scores to report.