2022-23

11/07/2023

The 2022-23 season came with great continuity both in the roster and in the coaching staff led, for yet another year, by Rubén Burgos. The squad would undergo tweaks that would raise its quality, with the arrival of the Spanish star Alba Torrens on the outside and that of the versatile center Lauren Cox on the inside. Valencia Basket would increase its commitment to young players, strengthening the team linked in Paterna with profiles such as Laia Lamana, Elena Buenavida, Awa Fam, Noa Morro or Emily Kalenik, and leaving one more hole in the first team to facilitate their arrival.

 

Thus, the squad would be made up of Cristina Ouviña and Leticia Romero at the base, with Queralt Casas, Ángela Salvadores, Alba Torrens and Bec Allen on the outside, and with Lauren Cox, Raquel Carrera and Marie Gülich on the inside. Claudia Contell would be transferred to Jairis in search of minutes.

 

Soon, the planning had a big setback, the serious injury of Bec Allen in the Mundobasket with Australia disrupted the team's planning a bit, although the young players first, and then the arrival of the Greek Elenna Christinaki tried to solve both her absence like the initial physical problems of Alba Torrens. In the second part of the season, with Bec's confirmed absence, the American Cierra Burdick joined the team, bringing energy to the team that would be decisive in what was to come.

 

The club's first Euroleague Women was simply spectacular. Vibrant games in a Fonteta that finally knew the maximum continental competition. A group phase against giants like Fenerbahce or Prague in which the taronja finished in a more than worthy third place, which would put them, in their debut, in the quarterfinals, fighting for a place among the four best teams in Europe. The 3-game tie, very tough and even against Bereta Familia Schio, would fall to the Italian side in the third and final match, in which the taronja touched a historic milestone.

 

Back to the domestic competition, the Copa de la Reina did not go as expected, and the taronja fell in the semifinals due to a bad finish against the surprising players from Casademont Zaragoza, who had a magnificent competition, taking the final title in their own court.

 

It was time to face the final stretch of the league, and the arrival of the PlayOff. Little by little, the team recovered injured players and began to assemble all the pieces in order to attack the final objective, the Endesa Women's League. The level of play took off, and the taronja beat Movistar Estudiantes in the quarterfinals and took the sting out of the Copa de la Reina against Casademont Zaragoza in a resounding semifinal.

 

The final challenge remained, beating Perfumerías Avenida, for the first time, with the field factor in advantage. La Fonteta was ready for a tremendous first game, in which despite achieving a great income at half-time, the Salamanca team did not give up until the end, where Valencia Basket made it 1-0. This game also set the attendance record for a Valencia Basket women's game, with 6,972 spectators.

 

The series traveled to Salamanca, where the charras wanted to make it 1-1, and they tried well, achieving rents above 10 in the first half. However, in a second half to remember, Rubén Burgos's players managed to turn around a game that will always remain in Taronja's memory, on May 7, 2023, with a result of 69-81, Valencia Basket became champion of the first Women's League in its history, with Raquel Carrera as the best player in the final. The dream was truth.


TAGS: