Sharpened Spear of Shinsegae

`The Fight of Five to Ten`

Shinsegae was obstinately running the game with just `best 5` until its main shooter Jung Sun-Min left the court due to an injury in her right ankle after 2 minutes and 4 seconds in the fourth quarter.

On the other hand, Hyundai sent 8 players to the court in the first quarter, and called up all available weapons, using all 10 players until the end of game.

The result was Shinsegae`s victory, which only 5 players fought for and won. The driving force behind Shinsegae players was their `blazing combative spirit`, feeling the crisis after Jung Sun-Min left the court.

The regular season champion, Shinsegae Coolcat defeated Hyundai Hyperion 70-65, showing a fighting spirit at the last moment, in game 1 of the 2001 WKBL championship round which was held at the Changchung Gymnasium, Seoul. With the victory, Shinsegae secured the advantage in the best of five games series.

It was Hyundai that dominated the court up to the last moment of game. As Hyundai tied up Shinsegae players with a front press defense from the beginning of the game, it could carry out a seesaw game with the lively perimeter shoots. Hyundai succeeded in making the first half almost even with a 31-34 score. As Kwon Eun-Jung and Sanford took an active part in the third quarter with 7 points each, Hyundai finally led the game 50-47. Coupled with the luck following Shinsegae`s Jung Sun-Min departure from the court due to her right ankle injury, Hyundai almost grabbed the win for game one.

However, the opportunity came after the crisis. Right after Jung Sun-Min was moved out of the court, Shinsegae`s Lee En-Ju made a two-point shot and a bonus shot from Kwon Eun-Jung`s foul. And when Lee made a shot from downtown, which was the only three-point shot for the team, Shinsegae led the game by 6 points.

Hyundai players began to fluster at the Shinsegae players` vigorous game. While Kwon Eun-Jung, Jung Yun-Sook, and Kim Young-Ok`s shoots went out of the rim, Shinsegae steadily added the points to put an end to the game.

Shinsegae`s Jung Sun-Min recorded 19 points for 32 minutes, and Anda followed with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

Kim Sang-Ho hyangsan@donga.com