LFB 1/2009 - Perfumerias 76, Girona 59

Today, the Liga Femenina in Spain opened up the regular season. Perfumerias (1-0), which was defeated in the finals last season by Ros Casares, hopes the addition of Sancho Lyttle will be the key to a LFB championship this year. They got off to a good start, beating Girona (0-1) 76-59 at home.

The box score is here.

Girona, the top team in Group B of the second divison last year, finds itself promoted to the LFB this year. Girona took a 13-4 lead until Lyttle finally came into the game. Girona held on to 22-18 lead at the first quarter, but Perfumerias buried Girona in the second quarter, 26-8 to take a 44-30 lead into halftime. (Laura Camps of Girona got hurt in the second and didn't come back into the game.) All Perfumerias had to do was to hang on to the lead, and by the end of thirty minutes Perfumerias had a 61-43 lead - the Salamanca team could just coast to a win.

A look at the Four Factors:

Field goal percentage: Even. Both teams shot 40 percent. Girona was 6-for-11 from the 3-point line, giving them the edge.
Turnovers: Perfumerias 10, Girona 17. Perfumerias knew how to take care of the ball, a decisive advantage. This is part of the reason that Girona lost by nearly 20 points.
Offensive rebound percentage: Perfumerias 40 percent, Girona 20 percent. Girona only had six offensive rebounds.
Free throws: Perfumerias 14-for-23, Girona 9-for-11.

And the highlights:

Perfumerias

Olga Podkovalnikova: 14 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists. If there's a player of the game, it's Podkovalnikova.
Olexandra Gorbunova: 13 points, 9 rebounds. The Ukranian played for CSKA Moscow last year.
Alba Torrens: 9 points, 7 rebounds. Torrens was drafted in the third round by the Connecticut Sun, but did not play.
Sancho Lyttle: 8 points, 8 reobunds. 4-for-9 shooting but four fouls.

Girona

Kaayla Chones: Drafted in 2004, Chones played two years with the Mystics and one with the Storm in 2006. 13 points and 10 rebounds. 4 turnovers.
Petra Stampalija: 12 points.
Laura Camps: Injured in second quarter, did not return. No points, two turnovers.