Woori Bank, “Only One More Game to Go”

Woori Bank Hansae has only one game to go for its first ever Women`s Pro Basketball Championship.

Woori Bank won big by 15 points with the score of 91-76 against the Samsung Life Bichumi in the 3rd game of the Woori Financial Group Cup Women`s Pro Basketball Winter League Championship Series held at Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul.

Woori Bank, who won two consecutive games after a loss in the best of five series, will get its first ever Pro League Championship with one win in the remaining 2 games as well as its first championship trophy in 18 years since the win at the National Sports Festival in 1985. The 4th Game will be held at Jangchung Gymnasium on March 16.

The game was decided on physical stamina. The players of Woori Bank, who won the 2nd game by a slim margin of one point, showed good condition, but the legs of the Samsung Life players just didn’t hold out.

The game was decided in the 1st quarter. The beefed up player from Woori Bank, Catchings had 15 points with bold breakaways and follow-up points off rebounds. Cho Hey-jin also added 9 points in the paint and from the outside. The team scored 26 points in the first. Samsung Life only had 12 points with 4 out of 19 shots in.

Woori Bank easily scored after rebounds using the height advantage of its forward line including Lee Jong-ae, Hong Hyun-hui, Cho Hey-jin, and Catching. Samsung Life tried hard with outside shooting from Byun Yun-ha and Gent, but could not reduce the scoring gap.

Head Coach of Woori Bank, Park Myung-soo said, “Before the game, the oldest of the team Cho Hye-jin volunteered to defend the main shooter of Samsung Life Byun Yun-ha (19 points), who had 30 points in the 2nd game, and she played much better than expected, so we were able to manage easily.”

Cho Hey-jin played not only strong defense but also on offense by hooping the most points for the team with 22 points. Catching and Lee Jong-ae added 19 and 18 points each.

Chang Jeon Jong-Seok Kim jeon@donga.com kjs0123@donga.com