Wismilak, Mahaputri reach Kobanita final
JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Wismilak CLS of Surabaya was only one step away from its ambition to retain its title after beating another Surabaya-based team Sahabat 64-35 in the semifinals of the Rexona women's Kobatama national basketball league at the Soemantri Brodjonegoro indoor court on Friday.
In the final match on Saturday, Wismilak CLS will meet Mahaputri Aspac, which defeated Bandung-based Rajawali 57-43 in the second semifinal match.
CLS did not give a chance to Sahabat and moved ahead 17-8 at the end of the first quarter. Sahabat found it difficult to break through CLS' solid defense, and relied mostly on three pointers.
Mauludiah and Yenny contributed three points each from seven free throws and Lindawati scored once for Sahabat.
In the second quarter, Sahabat managed to rebound but was still less productive in scoring.
Endang Suharsari of Sahabat earned seven chances to score but failed to do so. Mauludiah and Linda managed to contribute one out of two chances while Law Siau Fei only scored one of four chances.
Vivi Puspasari of CLS managed to score 10 points in this quarter to end with a 32-20 victory.
Sahabat players could no longer demonstrate their skills in the third quarter, despite tightening their defense. They were successful in rebounding but unfortunately they could not finish it well. The third quarter ended at 50-27.
Left behind in a wide margin, Sahabat seemed to lose their fighting spirit. CLS' senior player Sherly Humardani did the lay up to end the fourth quarter 64-35.
Sahabat's coach Moch. Arifin admitted that his players were still too young and unprepared to challenge the defending champion.
"Moreover, we don't have enough players with proper height. We tried to strengthen our defense and help each other, but some of the players lost concentration and CLS managed to seize the opportunity several times."
"We are really outclassed by CLS. They are more experienced, more senior and they can anticipate our defense and offense," he said.
Arifin said, however, that his team would try its luck on Saturday to end the season in the third position.
"It's OK if we lost today, but we will focus on Saturday's match. We have tried to avoid playing hard to prevent injury," he said.
CLS' coach Wellyanto Pribadi said his team would be without ace player Dwi Ratna Herawati, who injured her leg during Friday's match.
"We have added one extra player, Sherly Humardani but we lost one. We are unsure if Dwi can perform Saturday," he said. (ivy)