07 December 2023

A gutsy win over Uralochka!

Olympiacos was the winner of the game against Uralochka (18-13) and took the first position of the group. After an exciting game between the two teams, Olympiacos dominated and secured the qualification to the next round and the first position. Emmolo with five goals, Asimaki with four and Plevritou with 3 ones were the first scorers.

Key action:

In the first quarter, Olympiacos was ahead until two minutes before the end but the Russian team with two goals by Lapteva and Karimova preceded with 3-4. The second period began with Neznamova scoring and increasing the margin to two goals for Uralochka. At this point, however, the ‘’Reds’’ reacted and replied with a 3-0 lead. Emmolo reduced to 4-5 reaching the three goals, then V. Plevritou equalized to 5-5 and after a perfect attack, Eleftheriadou scored 6-5 giving the lead to Olympiacos again. Krimova tied the game but Eleftheriadou scored her second goal putting the ‘’Reds’’ ahead 7-6. The first half ended with the goal of Zelentsova.

Uralochka got the lead again with Zelentsova (7-8, 8-9) but Emmolo and Eggens equalised to 9-9. Tsoukala replied to the new lead of the guests with Bersneva. M. Plevritou and Asimaki with two personal goals went Olympiacos ahead and boosted the margin to 13-11. The fourth quarter started with a save by Diamantopoulou who stopped Zaplatina. Having secured the lead of the two goals, Margarita Plevritou increased to +3 reaching 14-11. The ‘’Reds’’ had a rhythm in the attack and widened the difference to +4 with Alexandra Asimakis' fourth goal, five minutes before the end of the game. In the minutes that followed, the ‘’Legend’’ maintained absolute control and reached the victory with 18-13, which is equivalent to the Euroleague's 8th qualifying and the first place.

The tournament is completed on Sunday morning (10:45) with the third game of Olympiacos against the Italian team, Messina. The game will be broadcast live on OSFP TV, the official channel of Olympiakos on Youtube. At 12:30 there will be the last game of the group between Padova and Uralochka.

Match data:

The quarters: 3-4, 4-3, 6-4, 5-2

Goals:

1st quarter: 1-0 Asimaki (06:26), 1-1 Karimova (04:14), 2-1 Emmolo (03:27), 2-2 Lapteva (02:15), 3-2 Emmolo (01:56), 3-3 Lapteva (01:35), 3-4 Karimova (01:02)

2nd quarter: 3-5 Neznamova (06:20), 4-5 Emmolo (05:46), 5-5 B. Plevritou (05:00), 6-5 Eleftheriadou (04:16), 6-6 Karimova (03:01), 7-6 Eleftheriadou (01:55), 7-7 Zelentsova (00:46)

3rd quarter: 7-8 Zelentsova (07:25), 8-8 Emmolo(07:12), 8-9 Zelentsova (06:53), 9-9 Eggens (05:58), 9-10 Bersneva (04:48), 10-10 Tsoukala (03:37), 10-11 Karinova (02:30), 11-11 M. Plevritou (02:05), 12-11 Asimaki (01:23), 13-11 Asimaki (00:29)

4th quarter: 14-11 M. Plevritou (07:05), 15-11 Asimaki (04:54), 15-12 Galizamzianova (04:23), 16-12 El. Plevritou (03:51), 16-13 Karimova (02:58), 17-13 Emmolo (02:29), 18-13 M. Plevritou (01:34)

Squads:

Olympiacos (Teocharis Pavlides): Diamantopoulou, El. Plevritou 1, Eggens 1, Eleftheriadou 2, Manolioudaki, Avramidou, Asimaki 4, M. Plevritou 3, Emmolo 5, V. Plevritou 1, Tsoukala 1, Myriokefalitaki, Stamatopoulou

Dynamo Uralochka (Mikhail Nakoriakov): Boronina, Neznamova 1, Zaplatina, Karimova 5, Panfilova, Popova, Zelentsova 3, Lapteva 2, Galizamzianova 1, Lipskaia, Topychkanova, Bersneva 1, Golovina

Quotes:

Pavlides said: ‘’Finally we won although our defence is not so good making many mistakes. I don’t remember the last time that we conceded 13 goals. This team adapt the one-on-one and fast game. We conceded seven goal in the first half and six on the second one. We have to see our mistakes and improve them as we will face teams with similar plays, such as Hungarian and Russian ones, in the next games.’’

El. Plevritou stated: "We achieved our goal which was the qualification in" 8 " and the first position. We played two strong games in two days and although our performance wasn’t so good, we achieved to prevail. We showed our passion, overturned the game and finally beat a very capable and dangerous rival. Surely, these two games could be a good lesson for us in the next rounds.’’