STOL-Grasshoppers DS1 win in turbo-style from Eurosped Twente

The bleachers were again full in Cleijn Duin, when the youthful team from Eurosped, Tubbergen came to visit. That usually means a lot of running, flying, and scoring. A nice match for the local television station, RTV Katwijk, to make a video report. The introduction of the teams is even more spectacular due to the presence of the “team of the month”, MU10-1 (girls under 10 years of age), who are also introduced with the ladies. The game starts at a high tempo. Rianne Philippo starts the scoring for STOL-Grasshoppers with her speciality, the 3-pointer, of which 7 more will follow this evening. Karin Kuijt follows with a point, and then the team stands still. Eurosped comes along side, and both teams are pretty equal until Eline Kraaijenoord scores 5 points in a row to take a small lead. At the end of the first period, the lead stays at 6 points (18-12).

The second period begins with Corine Manujputty and Kelli Valentine, who interfere with the scoring. Eurosped reacts with a zone defense, but they should have known better. STOL-Grasshoppers are prepared and, with patience, fast passing, and enough shooters, they blow the Tubbergen’s defense to bits. They score six 3-points in a row and the last one is after a 5 pass swing. After 15 minutes of play, the score goes to 44-19. STOL-Grasshoppers take control of the match, substitutions are made, and Ingrid van der Plas manages 4 more points to the cheers of her fanclub – the MU10-1 where Ingrid the coach is.

The second period continues with what STOL-Grasshoppers is good at – scoring! But the big difference this season compared to earlier years, is the intensity of the defense. The opponent is hardly able to score. The ladies have mentally matured a lot. They know when to stay calm, and how to play against a zone defense. Eurosped have lost a lot of quality in the last few years, but they also have a lot of oncoming talented youth players – Anke Rikhof, Pien Nijhuis, and the 4th Beld sister, Iris. Together with internationals Judith Beld, Marianne van der Hoek, and the Lammerink sisters, it’s only a question of time before this team from Tubbergen is playing for the prizes. That doesn’t help them this evening, against a STOL-Grasshoppers team who are playing a strong match. They play very concentrated, fast, and convincing for the entire 40 minutes. Except for a couple of mionutes in the last period, coach Bo Melis must have totally enjoyed watching his team. Especially Corine breaks loose with spectacular steals and drives. Kelli makes the “no-look-pass” look easy and Eline is extremely strong in the rebounding. Again the 100 point score is not reached, but 98-56 is not bad.

Scores: Rianne 24(8 3/pointers), Eline 13, Karin 13, Corinne 12, Ingrid 11, Kelli 11
Rebounds: Ingrid 17(!), Eline 10.
The next home game is Saturday, Dec. 3, at 20:15 against Probuild Lions