Panathinaikos – Olympiakos 76-81: The red-whites took the double and made the title jump

Armed with great defense in the fourth period and great men’s action, Olympiakos came back from -8 from 25′ and celebrated a great win over Panathinaikos (81-76) in “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” for A1 Women’s Basketball.

With this win, Martin Zimbarts’ team secured absolute home field advantage in the playoffs of A1 Women’s Basketball. Most importantly, he managed 2-0 against Panathinaikos in the regular season, a huge lead for the post-season as the title is judged on win-4.

Evina Stamati (19 points with 6/9 shots and 3/3 shots) and Angeliki Nikolopoulou (16 points with 7/12 shots and 1/2 shots, plus 8 rebounds) held out for Olympiacos for three seasons before taking down Anna Spyridopoulou baton (9 points) in the last ten minutes and finally tips the scales in favor of the guests.

On the other hand, it was Fehimata Fitzgerald (20 points) and Sequoia Holmes (18 points) who stood out aggressively for the Klee, putting Chastity Reed close to the triple-double (16 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists). ).

The race

Capitalizing on the enthusiasm of the crowd in the stands, Panathinaikos forced Olympiakos to make consecutive errors and took the lead in the opening minutes. Martin Zimbartz’s players were superficial in managing their possession, but thanks to Michel Plouf they stayed close until the end of the first period (17-15 in 10 minutes). The next five minutes were admittedly poor, by both teams. The many misses and errors didn’t help the pace of the game, with the greens naturally keeping the lead (21-19 in 15 minutes). Evina Stamati’s three helped Olympiakos ‘fold’ in attack from that point onwards, but as long as Anna Niki Stamolabrou was out of place (0/4 shot at half-time), the Reds and Whites could not take over. In the end, the first part ended at +5 (36-31) for Panathinaikos, thanks to a three-pointer by Feyhounta Fitzgerald almost at the end of the year.

At the start of the third period, Angeliki Nikolopoulou, Olympiacos’ most consistent player, took over the baton from Evina Stamati in attack. Because of this, Panathinaikos failed to maintain the -relative- margin of safety until the 30th minute. The Klee was outstanding at the beginning of the quarter, reaching +8 (44-36 in 25 minutes), but Angeliki Nikolopoulou did the job for Martin Zimbarts’ team to reduce to one point (57-56 in 30 minutes). .

With the psychology of the greens fragile as the difference disappeared, Anna Spyridopoulou took the offensive baguette for Olympiakos and made the difference. With seven points of their own in a row, the guests brought the ups and downs and reached +6 (61-67) with five minutes in the end.

Panathinaikos now had a problem, both offensively and defensively, which was only solved in the endgame. Sequoia Holmes and Feyhunda Fitzgerald took the initiative, went into personal phases but didn’t reach for the shamrock. Olympiakos stayed in the lead until the final and clinched victory – gold for the continuation of A1 women’s basketball.

THE REFEREES: Kardaris-Tsolakos-Zakestidis.

THE TEN MINUTES: 17-15, 36-31, 57-56, 76-81.

PANATHINAICOS (Kapogianni): Reid 16 (6/16 two points, 4/4 shots, 10 rebounds, 7 assists), Fitzgerald 20 (7/12 two points, 1/4 three points, 3/3 shots, 4 rebounds), Lymura 11 (3/5 three points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), Kotoula, Boudouri, Holmes 18 (6/8 two points, 1/7 three points, 3/3 shots), Hatzinikolaou 9 (2), Kaiser 2 (4 setbacks).

OLYMPIC (Zimbarts): Plouf 9 (1 three points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists), Tolfry 3 (1), Stamolambrou 4 (1/7 shots, 1/2 shots), Stamati 19 (2/2 two points, 4/7 three points, 3/3 shots), Spyridopoulou 9 (1), Nikolopoulou 16 (6/9 two points, 1/3 three points, 1/2 shots, 8 rebounds), Diella, Vitola 12 (6/9 two points, 0/2 three points, 0/2 shots, 10 rebounds), Hublin 8 (4/5 two points).

Team Stats – Panathinaikos: 22/48 two points, 7/20 three points, 11/13 shots, 30 rebounds (24 defense + 6 offense), 16 assists, 15 errors, 6 steals, 3 blocks.

Team Stats – Olympiacos: 24/40 two points, 9/21 three points, 5/12 shots, 35 rebounds (28 defensive + 7 offensive), 21 assists, 19 errors, 8 steals, 3 blocks.

The next commitments of the two teams: With two games left until the end of the regular season, Panathinaikos plays PAOK (home) and Chania (away), while Olympiacos has the games with Eleftheria Moschatou (home), Niki Lefkada (away) and Chania (away shift, inside).