Shinsegae “Import Was Well Picked”

“Who thinks we are weak?”

In the 2005 KB Star winter league of women’s professional basketball, Shinsegae gained its first victory against Shinhan Bank.

On December 29, at the league’s first game at the Wadong Gymnasium in Ansan, Shinsegae won by 86-78, a victory led by the exceptional performance of import Alana Beard (43 points, five rebounds, four block shots).

The most outstanding player this day was Beard, an import selected first during the draft and also a former ace point guard of the WNBA’s Washington team. Beard is an all-around player who can handle all positions from point guard, the commander of the court at difficult times, to power forward, with the exception of the center position.

Beard controlled her offenses to succeed in shots under the goal despite the tall centers of the opponent team and succeeded with three three-point shots with one hand, unlike other female basketball players who shoot with two hands from afar.

Thanks to the performance of Beard and Jung Jin-kyoung (12 points, six rebounds), a center who returned from Taiwan, Shinsegae took the lead from the middle of the first quarter by a score of 23-10. However, Shinhan Bank, in its first official game since the team’s establishment, succeeded in overtaking its opponent 54-53 at the beginning of the third quarter with its eight players showing excellent teamwork.

The game was exceptionally close. Shinsegae grabbed its victory with two minutes left in the game. The team had been barely guarding its lead at 76-74 in the middle of the fourth quarter, but Beard had two shots under the goal, and Yang Jung-ock (seven points) returned from her injury to successfully knock in a mid-distance shot from the left side of the court, two minutes and four seconds before the end of the game, securing Shinsegae’s victory by 82-76.

Chang Jeon jeon@donga.com