The Finnish women’s basketball team challenged Hungary, one of Europe’s top teams, in the EC qualifying match. The victory slipped away in the last five minutes.
Anu Karttunen,
Pertti Lappalainen
The balance of the Finnish women’s national basketball team before the current EC qualification was quite sad, losses after losses.
Last week, however, Finland opened the new qualifiers with a handsome away win against Bulgaria. The last qualifying victory for the useful ones was from 2020, when Portugal fell, so Finland had won only one of its previous 20 qualifying matches.
On Sunday, the team fought evenly with Hungary, one of the top countries in Europe, until the last minutes.
In fact, Finland led the match in Helsinki with points 51–50 still a good five minutes before the end of the match. The experienced Hungarian, who finished fourth in the previous European Championship, managed to play more aggressively under the basket in the final minutes, steal the necessary rebounds and throw a three-point shot from the court at the last second. Hungary won 67-56 in front of a packed audience.
– I told the team that I would have liked to have watched this match today. We saw an even, exciting match and hard performances, head coach Ilkka Palviainen stated.
The players’ faces showed disappointment after the defeat, even though they got more energy from the audience and they were up against a pretty tough opponent beforehand.
– I have to say that I feel a bit disappointed. That was a winnable game, and it creates faith in doing this, team captain Elina Koskimies said.
According to Palviainen, the training prepared the players for the match by giving them tools to solve problems on the defensive end. The team worked in a self-directed manner, and the coaching did not need to shake the players unnecessarily.
– The amount of knowledge these young women have absorbed during the week and how much they have progressed defensively is absolutely fantastic, Palviainen praised.
Until the end, however, Finland’s rush was not enough, even though the team was supposed to play aggressive defense. Koskimie, who scored eight points and the best player in Finland, finished with 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Awak Kuierin I think the team ran out of power.
– The match was pretty much decided by rebounds. They were just so much taller than us, and that size difference showed at the end. Before that end we were able to keep up, but at that end we got tired and their height helped them.
Three 11-point players were found in Hungary: Dorka Kata Juhasz, Agnes Studer and Reka Lelik. Having scored seven points for Finland Magdalene Agyei in my opinion, Hungary’s hardness was visible especially at the end of the match.
– They are very experienced players and are used to playing above their level, but we were able to challenge them, Agyei said.
In Palviainen’s opinion, Finland’s game went to bouncing the ball in the final minutes, while the Hungarian collective worked well again. However, a victory away from home and putting Europe’s top country in a tight spot is a pretty sweet start to the European Championship qualifiers.
– During this window, we first grew together and then we grew together. I would sum this up so that it was not yet our time to conquer such a big country, but it is coming, Palviainen assured.
In these EC qualifiers, the eight group winners claim a spot in the EC final tournament. In addition, the four best teams from the second group qualify for the EC final tournament to be played in the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece and Italy in 2025.
The EC qualifying match schedule is special, as the games will not continue until one year from now, when Finland meets Slovenia at home on November 7, 2024.