Wereldtickets.nl Leiderdorp slaughters Grasshoppers in the first duel of the quarter final play-offs

What is fighting worth if you’re playing a losing game, and the result doesn’t make any difference? Nothing, so that’s why STOL-Grasshoppers, consciously or not, let Wereldtickets.nl walk over them.

The first match in the quarter final of the play-offs for the national championship women’s basketball ended with a 95-63 win for favorite Leiderdorp. Rarely did it go so easily in the derby. The home team took control in the second quarter (from 18-23 to 44-36) and blew the Katwijk’s basketballers from the court. Grasshoppers were helpless. Leiderdorp, with a period score of 29-6, carried on to an onreachable 73-42. The team of coach Bo Melis caused a bit of irritation in the last minutes, but that was only good for the statistics.

Melis watched as everything went wrong, “We had a match in 2 parts. In the first part, a couple of things went wrong. In the second part, a lot went wrong.”

Last week, in the semi-final for the cup, Grasshoppers played a good match and perhaps deserved more than they got. Yesterday was another story. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that Grasshoppers were saving themselves for Saturday. Maybe trying to confuse Leiderdorp. The scoring difference doesn’t count during the play-offs, just who wins 2 matches. Melis wouldn’t confirm this, but when he saw the direction his team was going, he changed his plan: “The fourth quarter we purposely used as a training. Those who carried out their instructions we given playing time”, his manner of disguised criticism for some of his players.

While his colleague, Ferene Szitas waited (much too) long before bringing in most of his reserve players – Kirsten van Haver and Rita Sardi came in 3 ½ minutes before the game ended - Melis kept substituting. It didn’t make any difference anyway. “There are two sorts of flow. Ours was not good – their’s was fantastic.”

That’s true. Corine Manuputty ran past her opponents as if they weren’t there. Her teammates blindly found each other, and under the board or behind the 3-point line the home team could do no wrong.

Melis finally came to the conclusion that maybe the walk-over was less painful than it seemed. “It’s better to lose by 32 points than to lose with 2 points and not know what you did wrong. Saturday things will be different. I’m not saying that we’ll win, but I don’t think I have to tell the team that this can’t happen twice.

Period stands: 18-23, 26-13, 29-6, 22-21

Top scorers Leiderdorp: Manuputty 17, Nieuwveen 15 (11 rebounds), Maddox 13, Yoerger 12, Hartman 11.

Top scorers Grasshoppers: Stec 16, Mitidiero 12, v an der Plas 10.