Titanic and sumptuous Autosped: the first historic success in Serie A1 arrives in Sesto
Geas Sesto San Giovanni-Autosped BCC Derthona 82-83
(25-17, 44-41, 67-57)
Scoreboards:
Geas: Moore 19, Conti 2, Gustavsson, Makurat 7, Trucco 10, Barberis 2, Gwathmey 4, Orsili 16, Ostoni n/o, Spreafico 15, De Lise n/o, Conte 7. Coach Zanotti
BCC Derthona: Dotto 15, Marangoni 5, Fontaine 3, Torelli n/o, Premasunac n/o, Leonardi 2, Arado 4, Attura 21, Melchiori 11, Penna 16, Gatti 6, Coates n/o. Coach Cutugno
Autosped BCC Derthona writes a new chapter in its history by winning its first success in Serie A1. On the difficult Geas Sesto San Giovanni pitch, facing a renowned opponent with very long rotations in terms of quantity and quality, the team coached by Cutugno – without Coates and Premasunac – plays an intense, solid match, finding unity in the moments of greatest difficulty and – resisting the opponents' attempts to extend the lead – recovers a double-digit disadvantage. Then, with an overwhelming finale (an extraordinary partial of 2-16 for the Giraffes in the last 5'), it gives itself a great joy.
The start of the match was marked by Geas, after the first balanced moments: the baskets of Conte, Moore and Makurat were worth the first lead (16-6 at 5'). After the time-out called by coach Cutugno, the reaction of BCC arrived, but the Lombardy team maintained a three-possession margin (25-17) at 10'. In the second quarter, Autosped, tough, resisted the opposing gusts, limited the offensive rebounds and, with pride and intensity, reduced their gap action after action until -3 (44-41) at the interval.
After returning from the locker rooms, the game continues to flow on the edge of balance, with Geas maintaining the lead and finding a double-digit advantage (67-57) with Spreafico's triple at the buzzer. In the final period, Penna keeps BCC in touch with three-point baskets, then Geas extends its lead with Moore (80-67 at 35' for the home team) before Arado, Attura and Melchiori impact the game at 80 points with 2 minutes to go. Moore and Penna move the score (82-82), Autosped has the ball to win the game: on Dotto's mistake, Arado is fouled and scores the first free throw, giving Autosped a historic victory.
So the captain Beatrice Attura: “We came to Geas with nothing to lose, because we are missing two important pieces of the team, Alaina Coates and Nina Premasunac. We played with the right mentality from start to finish, with the right intensity. We have to think one game at a time, understanding how to play without two of our big men, but today we had good indications”.
Coach's words Orazio Cutugno: “The girls put a lot of heart on the parquet and great quality in everything they did on both halves of the court: limiting Geas was a small masterpiece, staying down for almost all forty minutes. I am proud of my players for what they did”.
