January
14, 2010
 The
young Telge team still leads the pack in the Swedish women´s
basketball league, Damligan. With an age average as low as 17, they
only have suffered one loss in their 14 games. With six games to go,
their chance to top the table in the regular season seems very good.
They
have surprised everyone
Telges
performance so far has surprised everyone. Coming into the season,
they lost several of their starters, including top players Louice
Halvarsson (Spartak Moscow), Stefanie Yderström (University of
Miami) and Hanna Bouldwin (Arras, France). They, however, managed to
recruit young center star and Swedish youth international, Amanda
Zahui (born 1993), and filled the rest of their rosters with young
players from the club´s own organization. Once again lead by coach
Benny Johansson they were predicted to make it to the playoffs, but
one saw them as a potential team in the finals. If they get there
remains to be seen, but they already have beaten main rivals Solna
and 08 Stockholm and shown that they fear no one.
The
style of play
Telge
plays a freelance type of offense, in which their well educated
players can take advantage of their individual skills. They play with
great ball movement, powerful drives, strong cuts and with intensity
on the boards. A highly contributing factor to their success is the
team´s rebounding, which is the best in the league. Another
important thing is that the key players have played together for many
years, a valuable asset in their offensive play. In defense, Telge is
a man to man oriented team. They stick to their basic defense,
executing it perfectly, mainly thanks to the fysical fitness of all
players.
Key
players
The
team´s leading player is captain Cleopatra Forsman, last years MVP
in the WU 18 European Championships. Drives, executed with
exceptional change of pace, is her trademark on court, but she has
good all-round skills in both ends. Forsman (19 points/8 rebounds)
however, has to improve her shooting skills in order to become an
international star. The team captain is backed up mainly by Binta
Drammeh, Sally Kabengano, Amanda Zahui and Frida Fogdemark. Drammeh
is the Telge-player that has improved most in the last year. She is
the team´s leading rebounder with 9 per game and averages 16 points.
Kabengano is a key player in the team. She is not a leading scorer,
but has an excellent understanding of the game combined with great
shooting. Kabengano leads the league in both 3-point percentage
(56,5) and assists (4,6). Zahui (190 cm) contributes with power on
the boards (9 rebs./game) as well as scoring (15) and has proven
herself a good replacement for Halvarsson. Last but not least,
forward Frida Fogdemark (185) is an excellent all-round player with
great shooting. She averages 10 points, making Telge, along with
Luleå, the only team with 5 players scoring in double digits.
Predictions
Most
likely, the 8 teams that will qualify for the quarter-final round in
March are
- Telge
- Solna
- 08 Stockholm
- Sundsvall
-
Norrköping
- Luleå
- Mark
- Sallén
The quarterfinals
are played in two groups, with the top four teams in one (A), and the
rest in another(B). The last placed team in the A group will then
play the best team in the B group in a best of three series, to
decide the fourth team in the semifinals.
Brahe will most likely
stay in the bottom of the table, and together with one of the
remaining teams; Eos, Visby and Umeå, have to play a qualification
series with two teams from Division 1, in order to stay in Damligan.
The struggle to avoid the qualification series will be hard. At
present, Eos has 4 wins, Visby and Umeå 3.
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