Chanelle Molina scored 19 points and hauled in a team-high 10 rebounds as the Norrköping Dolphins rallied past Visby, 81-68, on Saturday.
The visiting Dolphins improved to 6-3 in Swedish Basketball League play. They splashed 14 3-pointers and moved into third place in the standings. Overall, they shot 40 percent from the field — 42 percent from the 3-point line (14-for-33) and 38 percent inside the arc (13-for-34). Lovisa Hyern tallied 19 points and seven assists, Anna Lundquist had 14 points, and Erika Davenport hustled for 11 points and eight boards.
Jessica Kelliher led Visby (2-7) with 27 points.
“We were down for most of the game and those 3s came in the second half. Those 3s helped us come back and take the lead. We executed our plays well, which led to open shots. As soon as we were shooting, we caught fire and stayed hot from the arc,” Molina said.
The former Konawaena and Washington State standout shot 50 percent from the field (7-for-14) and sank three treys in seven attempts. Her 10 caroms were a season high.
“The player that was guarding me didn’t really box me out, so I took advantage of that and crashed the boards hard,” she said.
It may have been Norrköping’s best shooting performance on the road. The Dolphins are 4-0 at home and 2-3 away.
“It was actually a terrible game for us. We should’ve won by a lot more and this team should not have been keeping up with us,” Molina said. “We had a slow start, a couple of turnovers which led to points for the other team. Our transition defense and defensive game plan to contain some players were not good. After the game, our coach said that this should be a reminder that we need to be focused from the start and take care of business.”
This was also the longest road trip so far. The team rode three hours, then boarded a ferry for another three hours to arrive at Visly, an island with no bridges to mainland Sweden.
The Dolphins visit Helsingborg this Saturday, followed by a home game against first-place Alvik on Dec. 19. The SBL takes a holiday break before Norrköping resumes game action on Jan. 9.
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