Bologna –
With the qualification in safe for months now, for Virtus it’s time to get ready for the Coppa Italia weekend scheduled this week, with the championship suspended and the first eight to play for the title. In front of them, in the first round, they will have Magnolia La Molisana Campobasso, probably the worst “catch” that could come from the ranking crossings. In the last edition, Segafredo arrived at the Coppa Italia as fourth in the standings, with Tassinari and her teammates having to surrender in the semifinals against Schio.
As mentioned, it will be the Campobasso of coach Sabatelli the first obstacle on the path of the black Vs. The last clash, a little more than a month ago, saw Segafredo triumph 69-61 thanks to a performance with 11 points and 16 rebounds by Turner, 15 points by Cinili and 15 by Dojkic. On the other side, as expected, the usual strong performance of the Parks-Chagas duo, with the Argentinean taking Gray’s place in terms of scoring with 12 points. Trimboli’s contribution was also excellent.
Positive path in the last month for La Molisana: only one loss, against Schio, and three victories. The return of Rashanda Gray (16.2 and 7.8 rebounds on average in 24.1 minutes on the floor), whose absence coincided with the four losses in five games at the beginning of the year, has restored confidence and awareness to the group. Turner’s presence under the basket will therefore be the probable answer for coach Lardo to contain the American with an all stars and stripes duel.
It will be imperative for Segafredo to immediately find the key to unhinge Campobasso’s defense in order to guarantee quick rotations, thus dividing the energy to be conserved for the following games.
