Shinhan Loses Three Straight Games

“Nikki Teasley brought both worries and joy to the team.”

Kookmin Bank, defeating Shinhan Bank, has won two straight games following two defeats. On the game held on January 4 in Cheonan, Kookmin Bank defeated Shinhan Bank 67-49. Kookmin Bank’s current record is two wins and two defeats, while Shinhan Bank has three defeats.

In the WNBA, Nikki Teasley, who used to play with the L.A. Sparks, was a star player who led the league in assists in the 2004 season. However, ever since she joined the Women`s Korea Basketball League (WKBL), she has not shown interests in assists, but only in scoring.

In the game on January 4 against Shinhan Bank, although Teasley shot six three-pointers in the first quarter alone, she did not make any of them. Coach Lee Moon-kyu of Kookmin Bank did not tolerate it and brought her back to the bench with 1:33 left in the first quarter as the team was down 9-15. In the second quarter, thanks to Korean players such as Kim Eun-kyung (13 points) and Jung Sun-min (12 points), Kookmin Bank reversed the score to 25-24.

Teasley later re-entered the game and made a three-pointer in her ninth attempt at 1:45 prior to the end of third quarter with the team ahead 42-37. She continued to make field goals and a three-pointer and helped the team to an 11-point lead, 50-39.

Although she succeeded on only two of her 11 three-point tries, she scored 23 points, which were the highest individual points scored in this game.

Shinhan Bank suffered from failing to make goals; the team did not make any of the 14 three-pointers attempted. This was the first time ever since the WKBL was first established in 1998 that a team failed to make any three-pointers throughout the game.

Chang Jeon jeon@donga.com