Perfumerías Avenida suffered this Thursday to meet the forecast and access the semifinals of a Copa de la Reina that Valencia started with a crash in which a solid IDK Euskotren (60-56) stood up at all times with a great defense and led by Lauren Cox but who lacked arguments to go ahead in a few final minutes in which the team from Salamanca used their experience to stay calm.
Without pressure and with the meeting very well prepared, the Basque team warned from the beginning that it was willing to complicate the pass for the Salamanca team. Supported by Mariam Coulibaly’s strength near the rim but, above all, by their defensive intensity, IDK took the lead in scoring and forced Roberto Íñiguez to call a timeout to wake up his team.
Led by Kahlea Cooper, without great percentages but brave, the Salamanca team took the lead and that feeling gave him strength to improve his defensive performance and force the Basque team to find new offensive references. He did not make it and that cost him to get from behind to rest (29-24, m.20).
Second part
But the break revitalized IDK and the appearance of an accurate Lauren Cox allowed them to prevent Perfumerías from breaking the clash and manage to narrow the score again. Although the appearance of Maria Fasoula as a unique interior reference worked well for the Salamanca team, María España and Laura Cornelius managed to complement Cox and keep the Basque team engaged (52-50, m.34).
The match entered its final stretch in an exchange of errors, including some from the Salamanca shooting line, which IDK took advantage of to get within one. The Perfumeries knew how to manage the pressure and feeding Alarie to get a basket under the rim with just over a minute to go that ended up being decisive. ORA subsequent mistake by Coulibaly in the opposite basket and an offensive rebound by Cooper for Perfumerías ended up leaving the fighter IDK without options.