Samsung Life Insurance of Yongin defeated Busan BNK 67-64 in the regular season of the Woori Bank Woori WON 2023-2024 Women’s Professional Basketball League on Monday at Sajiksil Indoor Gymnasium in Busan. The team won its third straight game and remained in sole possession of third place with 13 wins and 12 losses.
Kiana Smith (177 cm, G) scored 80 percent (8-of-10) of her team’s points in the first 6:09 of the game. With 3 minutes and 6 seconds left in the first quarter, she hit a lucky three-pointer at the buzzer to end the offense. Thanks to this, Samsung Life evened the score with BNK at 15-16.
Several players scored in the second quarter, including Lee Hae-ran (181 cm, F), Shin Isul (170 cm, G), Bae Hye-yoon (183 cm, C), Kang Yoo-rim (175 cm, F), and Cho Soo-ah (170 cm, G). Widening the distribution of their offense, Samsung Life went up 35-25 with 3 minutes and 1 second left in the second quarter. BNK showed a slight difference in strength.
However, Samsung Life went on a 0-10 run in the last three minutes of the second quarter. At 35-25, the score was tied at 35-35, and they started the third quarter with a sense of urgency. After faltering in the second quarter, Samsung Life was down 42-46 just 5 minutes and 55 seconds into the third quarter. Sensing a crisis, Samsung Life head coach Lim Geun-bae called the first timeout of the second half.
Samsung Life made a difference after the timeout, but finished the third quarter down 49-51 and was still down 61-64 with 1:17 left in the game. However, foul free throws sealed the game, and Lee Ju-yeon (171 cm, G) made a wedge layup. Samsung Life crowned a difficult game with a ‘win’.
After the game, Samsung Life coach Lim Geun-bae said, “The players’ concentration dropped in the middle of the game. To be more specific, defense and rebounding were affected. In particular, the good rhythm we had was lost due to minor loose balls.”
“After we fell behind, we focused on defense and rebounding, and that’s how we were able to come back. I commend them for fighting back, but I hope we don’t have to play like this again.”
Meanwhile, BNK has lost 12 straight games at home. With a 4-21 record, they are 3.5 games behind fifth-place Incheon Shinhan Bank (7-17).
The trio of Ahn Hye-ji (164 cm, G), Lee So-hee (171 cm, G), and Jin An (181 cm, C) led the way in the early going, but turnovers started to creep in. Unable to settle down, BNK fell behind 10-13 with three minutes left in the first quarter.
However, BNK managed to rack up two points. Their high-probability offense shook Samsung Life. The score was 16-15 to start the second quarter. However, BNK fell behind 20-29 just four minutes into the second quarter. They slowly pulled away from Samsung Life.
However, BNK showed the will to catch up, especially in the last three minutes of the second quarter, when they went on a 10-0 run to make it 35-35 from 25-35. They started 토토사이트 순위 the third quarter with the score tied and went up 46-42 with four minutes and five seconds left in the third quarter. It created a crisis for Samsung Life.
However, the distance between BNK and Samsung Life was not that far. After finishing the third quarter with a 51-49 lead, BNK still led 58-55 with 4 minutes and 55 seconds left in the game. They just needed to hang on. But they couldn’t hold on for the final 1 minute and 17 seconds, and fell into another defeat.
After the game, BNK head coach Park Jung-jeong said, “We had a tough start, but we did what we wanted to do. Despite the injuries, they showed a lot of heart. I want to say to the players, ‘You fought well,'” Park said.
“If they could have scored one at the end, I would have been smiling. It’s a shame, but they did a great job,” he added.
