The women’s team from the Erasmus Basketball Club Baros has reached the finals of the Final Four after a 66-55 victory over Almonte in the sports centre in Eindhoven. Next week, the ladies will be playing in Zwolle against De Groene Uilen [the Green Owls] from Groningen in the Dutch amateur championship.
After the first match in Rotterdam, Baros defended an 11-point lead. Initially, this lead was not in danger, because the Rotterdam team got off to a good start just as they did in the first match and managed to maintain a lead of several points.
No shaking knees
Even so, the Rotterdam basketball players were four points down after the second quarter. Player, Tété Bartelds: “During the last few minutes before half-time, we made some mistakes because of Almonte’s faster defense.”
Almonte’s lead did not, however, cause shaking knees among the Baros players. “All of us had the feeling that we were still in control and that we could catch up. We even won the third quarter 24-10, meaning that we were leading 48-38”, said Bartelds.
After the third quarter, there was no doubt about the outcome of the match and Almonte let it go. The team from Eindhoven had to score 21 points more than Baros and that appeared to be an impossible task. Because of this, Baros won once again with a difference of 11 points: 66-55.
‘We’ve been working towards this all year’
After the match, Bartelds was ecstatic. “This is terrific. We’ve been working towards this all year. Lots of supporters also came with us to Eindhoven, which really led to a fantastic atmosphere. Our defense was once again very strong, so it became difficult for the opponents to cross the centre line and we were able to set up an attack more quickly.”
The women’s team from Rotterdam is also keen to gain a good result in the finals. Bartelds: “We’ll have to train just as hard for the finals as we did during the past weeks and compete as a team in the same way. As it’s all about one match, we’ll have to give it everything we’ve got.”
In addition to the amateur championship, promotion to the Women’s Basketball League, the highest level in the Netherlands, is also at stake next weekend in Zwolle. It is, however, still unclear whether Baros will make use of that right to promotion in the event of a victory.
