‘Park Ji-soo’s 25 points’ KB Stars defeats Hana OneQ for the third straight time…advances to the championship game
Cheongju KB Stars ended the best-of-five quarterfinal playoffs with three straight wins to advance to the championship game.
KB Stars defeated Bucheon Hana OneQ 77-64 in the third round of the Woori Bank Woori WON 2023-2024 Women’s Professional Basketball Playoffs (PO) on Wednesday at Bucheon Gymnasium in Bucheon, 바카라사이트 Gyeonggi-do.
KB, which advanced to the quarterfinals with three straight wins, will meet the winner of the best-of-five PO quarterfinals between Asan Woori Bank and Yongin Samsung Life in the championship game on Thursday.
Woori Bank and Samsung Life are tied 1-1 after two games. Even if the series is wrapped up in Game 4, it will still end on the 16th, giving KB the physical advantage heading into the championship game regardless of who their opponent is.
This is the second time KB has reached the championship game since the 2021-2022 season, when they won both the regular season and the championship. Last season, they failed to reach the quarterfinals.
KB ended the first quarter tied 14-14 and led by eight points, but back-to-back three-pointers from Hana OneQ‘s Kim Sion and Jeong Ye-rim cut the deficit to two points in the third quarter.
With KB leading 40-35 with four minutes left in the third quarter, Hana OneQ veteran Kim Sion got two free throws but missed both. KB, on the other hand, didn’t let the game slip away as Park Ji-soo’s basket and Kim Min-jung’s three-point play combined to give KB a 45-35 lead.
Hana OneQ rallied again with three-pointers from Jung Yerim and Shin Ji-hyun, but KB extended the lead to 54-41 with 21 seconds left in the third quarter when Kang Yiul completed another three-point play.
KB extended the gap to 57-41 with a three-pointer from Heo Ye-eun on the first possession of the fourth quarter and maintained its absolute dominance in all nine games against Hana OneQ this season, regular season and playoffs combined.
KB Park Ji-soo recorded a double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds, while Kang Yi-seul chipped in with 21 points.
Hana OneQ, which reached the playoffs for the first time since the team’s inception in 2012, was led by Jeong Yerim with 20 points and Kim Jong-un with 14, but will look forward to next season after a short “spring basketball” campaign.