KB Stars defeated Incheon Shinhan Bank’s S-Bird 84-63 in the away game of Woori Bank’s Woori WON 2023-2024 women’s professional basketball league held at the Dowon Gymnasium in Incheon on Sunday. KB Stars, which has won nine consecutive games, has become the lone leader, beating Doosan’s Woori WON (10-1), which had one less game by accumulating 11 wins (one loss).
Park Ji-soo showed remarkable performance in the game. Taking 30 minutes and 41 seconds to play, Park scored 31 points, 16 rebounds, and five assists, leading KB Stars to attack.
Park also encountered a significant record on the day. She added one more block shot, becoming the fourth person in the WKBL history to achieve 400 block shots overall. It was all the more valuable because she was the youngest player at the age of 25 and the result in 190 games. For reference, the previous record of 400 block shots in the youngest and minimum games was 29 years, 10 months, and 197 games that Lee Jong-ae held.
“When I set a record, I always feel good,” Park said after the game. “I feel like I’m leaving my footprints behind. I think it’s all the more meaningful because (the record) doesn’t disappear. I’ll also try the 500 block shot as the youngest and the smallest game,” she said with a big smile.
KB Stars ace Park Ji-soo has been going through a tremendous push lately. He played a home game against Bucheon Hana One Q on Wednesday and faced Shinhan Bank in an away game on the same day. On top of that, he should have an away game against Yongin Samsung Life Bloomings on Wednesday.
“I took a day off from the match (against Hana One Q),” Park Ji-soo said. “In the last interview, I heard that my physical condition for the ‘Pong-dang’ match was random, but today was very difficult. I had a hard time from the morning practice. I thought it would be okay, but it was so hard from the time I warmed up,” Park said. “Everyone else had a hard time (in the beginning).” He made many mistakes in defense and allowed a lot of three-point shots. It’s not because he lacked concentration, but his legs couldn’t move. Fortunately, as I warmed up little by little and focused, I got a good defense, and I was able to play a good game because I also had a good offense.”
Park Ji-soo’s shoulders are heavier because key players have been injured recently. Recently, Kim Min-jung and Kim Ye-jin have been out of the lineup due to neck and knee injuries, respectively, and even captain Yeom Yoon-ah was absent in the match against Shinhan Bank due to the flu. Fortunately, young resources such as Shin Young-young, Lee Yoon-mi and Lee Chae-eun, along with backup players such as Kim So-dam, Shim Sung-young, Lee Yoon-mi and Yang Ji-soo, performed like Altoran to minimize their gap.
“With the absence of the main players, the atmosphere has become chaotic. I wanted to instill confidence in young players as I thought they were nervous. So I said, “It’s okay. My sisters will support me just like I did in the Futures League. I want them to do whatever they want to do with responsibility as I thought their individual play would win the team,” Park Ji-soo said, giving a thumbs-up. “Young players did such a good job.”
“Today’s training is young players. They performed better than their own. When I was on the bench (at the end of the game), I thought, “This is the strong team. When I think about crisis, I gain strength,” he said. “I know (the younger players) are training hard. I was disappointed that they didn’t show up in the main game, but I’m so proud that they did well in this game. Thank you and pretty.”
Park Ji-soo, who was called by the KB Stars as the first-round pick in the 2017 draft, is called the present and future of Korean women’s basketball. He has a superior height of 198 centimeters, and he himself became the best player in Korea with tremendous effort. He is considered to have ‘post-WKBL’ skills, and he is dominating as the league’s top star by challenging the U.S. stage.
Despite this, Park Ji-soo was not satisfied. “There is no physical player like me in the league. I always think that I have to work harder. I want to show overwhelming performance,” Park said. “There is no physical player better than me. If I show my best performance, I will be so disappointed in myself.” There was a national team convocation during the off-season (2022 Hangzhou Asian Games), but I did my best to prepare for it. I want to make the opponent team feel that I cannot stop myself from being complacent. I want to be more perfect.”토토사이트 순위