20/08/2004
Day 4 Women: CZE 97 - KOR 75

Czech Republic thrashed Korea

ATHENS - The Czech Republic defeated Korea 97-75 to leave the Koreans without a win in their four games so far, before they face Spain on Sunday, 22 August.
 
The Czechs were always in control against the Koreans, who could only come within three points of them.
 
The Czechs led at halftime and were leading 70-48 at the end of the third quarter in a match in which they took 23 more rebounds than the Koreans to dominate possession and finish as comfortable winners.
 
Hana MACHOVA (CZE) was the dominant player, she scored 28 points, grabbed seven rebounds and made 5 steals to lead the Czech Republic to its second win of the tournament and almost to the quarterfinals of the 2004 Olympic Games Women’s Basketball tournament.

BEON Yeon Ha (KOR) was the standout player for the Koreans, scoring 26 points and hitting 8 out of 16 three pointers in a remarkable performance, but was unable to help Korea avoid defeat.

For the Czechs, Ivana VECEROVA scored 15 points, while Jana VESELA and Eva VITECKOVA added 12 points apiece and Romana HAMZOVA contributed 10 points and 5 assists.
 
KIM Yeong Ok scored 14 points for Korea, while KIM Kwe Ryong and PARK Jung Ae scored 12 points apiece.
 
The Czech Republic will now play New Zealand on Sunday, 22 August.
 

Flash quotes:

Michaela PAVLICKOVA, Forward (CZE)
"I'm glad we won. We started fast and scored a lot of points on the fast break, then got outscored 15-0 on three-pointers and easy baskets. In the second half we played better against their zone defense, and this helped us win the game."
 
Jan BOBROVSKY, Head Coach (CZE)
"There were two parts in the game. In the first one we started very well and soon had a 17-point lead. Then we slowed down, they outscored us and tied the game. It took us more energy than we expected to come up with the win, but we are happy we did."
 
BEON Yeon Ha, Guard (KOR)
"We came out willing to play our best to the end, but as always some things we had prepared did not work properly. The eight three-pointers were not a record for me, I have scored more in past games."
 
PARK Myung Soo, Head Coach (KOR)
"We tried two different things: To shoot well from the outside, which has happened, and to give the game a fast pace. But this one did not come up as we intended, since the Czech team made some strong defensive plays and stopped us."
 

Press conference quotes:

 
Hana MACHOVA, guard (CZE)
 
On the game:
"In the first half we played very sloppy in defense and we allowed our opponents to shoot well from the perimeter and stay close into the game. In the second half we improved our defense and we didn't fece serious problems in winning this game. Now we have to be very concetrated about our final game in the first round, because New Zealand is coming fron an important win against China and aims to qualify to the quarter -finals."
 
Romana HAMZOVA, guard (CZE)
 
On key of the game:
"I didn't expect such an easy victory against Korea, who has been more competitive in the previous games. We played very tough defense, we control the rythm and the rebounds and our only concern was to stop the perimeter shots. In the first half we failed, in the second did it and that's why our win came so easily at the end."

Game card...

Source: Athens news services