SK Sugar Gliders defeat Daegu Metropolitan Government to extend their lead in the standings to three games.
The SK Sugar Gliders defeated Daegu Metropolitan Government 31-26 in the seventh game of the second round of the Shinhan SOL Pay 23-24 Handball H League Women’s Division at the Namdong Gymnasium in Incheon on Monday.
The first-place SK Sugar Gliders improved to 12 wins, one draw and one loss with 25 points, while Daegu Metropolitan Government lost its 14th consecutive game and remained winless.
Early in the first half, Daegu Metropolitan Government capitalized on an SK Sugar Gliders mistake to take a 4-1 lead. However, Daegu Metropolitan Government’s mistakes soon followed, allowing SK Sugar Gliders to score four goals in a row to take a 5-4 lead.
The SK Sugar Gliders were led by Kang Kyung-min and Yeon Eun-young, while Daegu Metropolitan Government was led by Ji Hye Jin and Lee Won-jung.
The SK Sugar Gliders got within three points at 8-5, but an error allowed Daegu Metropolitan Government to take a 10-9 lead. A save by Lee Min-ji and a series of errors by Daegu Metropolitan Government gave the SK Sugar Gliders a 14-10 lead to end the first half.
In the second half, Daegu Metropolitan Government seemed to gain momentum early on, pulling within 16-14, but Lee Min-ji’s saves helped the SK Sugar Gliders extend their lead back to six points.
The SK Sugar Gliders scored back-to-back points to go up 24-17 after Daegu Metropolitan Government’s Ji Jinhye collided with Kang Eun-hye and fell to the ground. Ji Ji-hye came in and hit a mid-range shot to cut the deficit to five points, but a turnover widened the gap to 27-20.
With the score tied, the SK Sugar Gliders played a tight one-goal game, despite using younger players to rest their main players, and won 31-26.
The SK Sugar Gliders were led offensively by Kang Kyung-min with nine goals and four assists, Yoo So-jung and Yeon Eun-young with four goals apiece, and Lee Min-ji in 스포츠토토 goal with eight saves.
Daegu Metropolitan City led the offense with 11 goals and six assists from Ji Hye Jin and five goals from Ham Ji-seon, while goalkeeper Kang Eun-ji made seven saves.
“I’m happy that we won the last game of the second round,” said Kang Kyung-min, who was named the match MVP, “and we’ll do well in the remaining three rounds, so please come to the stadium and support us.”
Earlier in the day, Incheon City Corporation defeated Chungnam Provincial Government 20-19 in the first game of the men’s fourth round.
With their second straight win, Incheon City Corporation remained in third place with 10 wins, one draw and five losses, 21 points, one point behind second-place SK Hawks. Chungnam-do, looking to snap a two-game losing streak, fell short by one point and remained in sixth place with 14 points from two wins and four losses.