“There was definitely nervousness from the beginning. It was our first Euroleague match. We didn’t have as many warm-up games as we would have liked. I think the fact that we are not yet so well-matched also played a role there. We lacked both offensive and defensive rebounding, and most of all, we played slowly going forward,” Šípová told reporters.
The sovereigns of the domestic scene, who have already won the league thirteen times in a row and hold a streak of 273 winning matches, have played only one competitive match in the season so far. On Friday, they won 95:47 on the Trutnova pitch. “After halftime, we got over it, we started to run more forward, we were more aggressive and we rebounded more. It got better and I hope it will continue like that in the next matches,” said Šípová.
In past seasons, USK’s success was mainly due to American supports Alyssa Thomas and Brionna Jones. Thomas left the team after five years and Jones tore her Achilles in the WNBA, ruling her out for the upcoming season. According to Šípová, coach Natália Hejková’s team is more collective without them.
Photo: Roman Vondrouš, CTK
From the left, Veronika Šípová from USK and USK coach Natália Hejková.
“You can also see it on the scoreboard that almost all of us contributed points in some way. When Alyssa and Brionna were here, we played it for them. They were tough. When Alyssa left and Brionna unfortunately injured her Achilles, we had to change the game system. We have to play it more collectively, but I think it will definitely work. As a team, we got along really well and I believe it will get better and better,” she said.
Even Šípová herself gets more space. During the season, she coped with problems with an injured meniscus, but her performances in the Czech national team jersey at the June European Championship also drew attention. “I take it as the fact that I got another chance to show something here. I told myself that I will go into every match at one hundred percent and show what I have in me. I want to earn minutes to play and be a legitimate member,” added Šípová.