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Kommersant: “UMMC adds another title”
On Sunday, the Women’s Russian Cup Final Four came to a close in Yekaterinburg. In the decisive game, the local team UMMC faced their fierce rivals, Dynamo Kursk. Unfortunately, for the spectators who nearly filled the stands, the anticipated showdown of titans didn’t materialize. UMMC quickly pulled ahead at the start of the game and maintained full control throughout, confidently securing an 89:63 victory. For UMMC, this marks their third consecutive win and twelfth overall in the Russian Cup.
This weekend’s Women’s Russian Cup Final Four also featured MBA (Moscow) and Nika (Syktyvkar), alongside the hosts, UMMC, and their main rivals, Dynamo Kursk. However, the crowd had been hoping for a final clash between the Ural and Kursk teams.
Many were likely hoping for a repeat of the thrilling encounter just two weeks ago in the Premier League, when UMMC secured victory over Dynamo almost with the final buzzer.
UMMC and Dynamo met the expectations of their fans to a certain extent by winning their semifinals. Although the Ural team unexpectedly faced some difficulties in their matchup with MBA (the Moscow team eventually finished third in the tournament), the superfinal, as expected, did not happen.
The Kursk players started the game slightly better. However, it wasn’t enough to bring Dmitrii Donskov’s team any serious trouble. Clearly, UMMC’s performance was affected by the absence of Alexandria Bentley on the court. In the semifinal, Bentley was off her game, missing, for example, ten consecutive three-point attempts. In the end, Donskov likely decided to keep his leader on the bench for disciplinary reasons.
However, even without Bentley, UMMC quickly found their rhythm. Maria Klyundikova (formerly Vadeeva, the surname she played under until this season) stepped up to take on a key role. By the way, Donskov had also expressed some dissatisfaction with her after the previous game, but this time the center played much better. Moreover, the home team started hitting long-range shots, so after successful attempts by Eva Lisec, Maryia Papova, and Viktoriia Tretyakova, UMMC's lead grew.
In other words, it was the Russian basketball players who set the tone, the ones on whom UMMC has been relying in recent years.
Let us remind you that Dmitrii Donskov took over the team in 2022, after the events in Ukraine began, when UMMC suddenly lost a whole host of talented foreign players. However, the team reorganized, managed to find replacements for the departed foreigners, and also significantly strengthened its Russian component.
To break the opponent’s rhythm, Dynamo’s coach Sergey Voznyuk had to call a timeout. However, it hardly helped. Dynamo couldn’t get within striking distance of UMMC, and in the second quarter, Donskov finally put Bentley on the court.
The disciplinary measures had a positive effect on her as well. So much, so that she quickly became a huge problem for the opponents. In just 6 minutes of the second quarter, she scored 13 points, and by the end of the game, she had accumulated 28 points in total. This was the best performance of the game. But it’s quite likely that UMMC would have won this game even without Bentley’s help. Though perhaps not by such a large margin - the “Foxes” triumphed with a score of 89:63, never giving any reason to doubt that they would retain the title (by the way, this is UMMC’s third consecutive and 12th overall triumph in the Russian Cup).
However, the general manager of UMMC, Maxim Ryabkov, noted that “the result of the game should not be misleading; it reflects the hard work and hours of practice by the team.” “Therefore, I want to thank the players, the coaching staff, and the club’s management, represented by the president of the club Andrey Kozitsyn, and vice-president Igor Kudryashkin, who do everything to ensure the club lacks nothing, allowing the players to focus solely on their work and basketball,” he said.
Additionally, Alexandria Bentley was named the MVP of the “Final Four”. The symbolic five players included Marina Goldyreva, Kyara Linskens (both from Dynamo), Maria Klyundikova (UMMC), Yulia Savukova (MBA), and Isabela Lyra Macedo (Nika).
Source: Kommersant