2018-19

  • Liga Femenina - Semifinals
  • Copa de la Reina - Quarterfinals
14/07/2019

And, in the fifth year of women's basketball at Valencia Basket, the first year in the top female category came.

 

For this first challenge, he opted for continuity as the first coach of Rubén Burgos in his second season, with the incorporation of Santi Pérez as assistant coach.

 

For this new season, the team management would have two new faces, with the return to the city of Valencian Anna Gómez and the incorporation of Marina Lizarazu. Both would join Esther Díaz in this position, who would continue in the team for the fifth consecutive season, in addition to being the new captain.

 

In the SG position, the Portuguese SG María Bettencourt will continue, sharing the position with another of the incorporations, the North American Jori Davis. Alternating the guard and the forward, the Valencian Irene Garí in her second season, and for the forward position, two arrivals, the Valencian María Pina, and the North American Joy Adams.

 

In the interior game, Meiya Tirera remains in its second season, and the Spanish international Tamara Abalde, the North American Tinara Moore join. Along with them, Rebeca Cotano would celebrate her fifth season at the club, along with Esther Díaz, the only players present in the team since its creation in 2014.

 

Just before the season began, a major setback, Marina Lizarazu suffered a serious ligament injury that would not even allow her to debut in the season.

 

And so, on a Saturday, October 13, 2018, Valencia Basket debuted in the highest category of national women's basketball. It was before the current champion, Perfumerías Avenida, in Torrejón de Ardoz, framed in the so-called Open Day.

 

Two weeks later, the first steps in the maximum competition arrived, with a Fonteta that every day saw the number of spectators increase. On day 4, the first victory came, on the IDK Gipuzkoa track. From there, a series of successes were chained that allowed the team to grow.

 

On December 21, Araski's 59-79 victory on the Vitorian court mathematically certified the qualification for the first Queen's Cup in the history of the club. The big event would take place in March that same Mendizorrotza pavilion, in Vitoria, where Valencia Basket would face Spar Girona in the quarterfinals, who would compete throughout the match and with whom they would only fall for a narrow 52-49.

 

The good dynamics of results led the taronja to also seal their access to the first PlayOff for the title of their history. The fifth place finish left the gates even having a field advantage. The three-game tie against Lointek Gernika, ranked fourth in the Regular League, was tachycardic. The first game, played at Gernika, ended with a 69-76 victory at taronja, which gave the option to close the tie at La Fonteta in the first game at PlayOff at home in our entire history. However, the Basques recovered, taking the game 54-66, and leaving everything at the expense of what happened 3 days later on their own court. In the third and final, a colossal choral work led to an incredible Taronja victory, beating the locals 49-75 and achieving the pass to the semifinals in the first year of life in the top flight.

 

In the semifinals, the almighty Perfumerías Avenida waited, in a new tie for the best of 3 matches. This time, the women of Salamanca were superior in both matches, achieving a 2-0 result and ending an incredible first season, in which Fonteta and the team would end up dancing and celebrating Valencia's return to the top national female category, To top it all off, it would have as a prize the classification to play in Europe for the first time in our history.


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