Woori Bank goes to the finals in women’s pro-basketball

"Other teams are still competing for ranking. We need to remain cautious."

Women’s pro-basketball team Woori Bank Hansae locked up first place of the regular league for the fourth straight year Sunday at Hoban Sports Stadium in its home base Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. After hovering at the bottom for four consecutive years since the 2008-2009 season, Woori Bank regained strength since Wie Sung-woo became new coach in the 2012-2013 season. And this season the team won the regular season by playing the smallest number of games. Nevertheless, coach We kept a modest attitude.

"I heard strange rumors last month when we failed to grab 14 wins by losing to Samsung Life. People were saying we didn't do our best in order to meet a weaker team in our next game. Alreay depressed that we couldn't win, I was frustrated to hear that. But after a second thought, I could understand how other teams could have felt. We will have to be cautious to prevent such misunderstanding fron happening.

Woori Bank locked up first place even as this season still has seven games to go. The other two teams to play at the playoff are yet to be decided. Second ranking KEB Hana Bank, third place Samsung Life, fourth place Shinhan Bank and fifth ranking KB Stars will be fiercely fighting for the two vacant seats.

Wie said, "We will focus on keeping in shape for the next five games or so regardless of the outcome. Veteran Lim Young-hee and Yang Ji-hi will play for a modest amount to time to regain physical strength. We will do our best in the last two games to prepare for the finals. By then rankings will be somewhat decided and so we could be free of unnecessary misunderstandings."

Woori will start playing with the winner of the playoff on March 16 when the champion will be decided. The team who wins three out of five games will be the champion. It's still more than a month to go. When asked if the players could get loose since Woori Bank grabbed the win too early, Wie said, "I'm not worried about that. I'm really good in pressuring players. As they have in the past three years, I'm confident the players will follow by instructions well."

이승건기자 why@donga.com