110 Million Player Jung Sun-Min Scored 24 Points

The Shinsegae Coolcat launched its smooth navigation toward the champion trophy.

The Shinsegae made a pleasant start, defeating the Hyundai Hyperion 84-78 in the opening game of the 2002 WKBL winter league yesterday at Jangchung Gymnasium.

The key player was of course Jung Sun-Min, a leading player of the Shinsegae, who recorded 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists. Before the season opened, Jung Sun-Min originally hoped to advance to the United States` WNBA, but she signed a 110 million won contract, which is the highest salary among the Korean female basketball players. Jung received an official invitation from the WNBA in April this year, for the first time as a Korean player. But Jung decided to stay in the domestic league, because the club promised for the best salary, requesting for her to stay, and many WNBA star players are supposed to play in Korea for this winter league.

Jung said, "It is important for me to play in the big league of America. But I thought that it would be also important to experience the play style of the WNBA players in the domestic league. So, I think that this winter league is a kind of preliminary test for me to advance to the WNBA." This is the reason why she signed the contract.

In the first game of the winter league, Jung Sun-Min showed the totally different performance. She was no longer a player who tried to take care of everything by herself, at whatever cost.

Until the second quarter, Jung recorded only 4 points attempting three shots. Discarding her old habit attempting to shoot even under defenders` pressure`, she played a part faithfully as an assistant. She made 7 assists during the first half, which were almost the same as the Hyundai`s team record.

Jung changed her role again, creating much confusion among the opponent players. As she was relieved from the pressure of the opponent defenders, Jung stood at the front line of offense by herself. As soon as the third quarter began, she scored six straight points.

It looked as if she could score at will. Such a confidence was coupled with the incredible concentration on the ball. In a 64-67 led fourth quarter with 7 minutes and 21 seconds to go, as Hyundai`s Jung Yoon-Sook fell to the court grabbing a rebound, Jung Sun-Min rushed to take the ball without delay and finally scored points. And when her teammate Smith missed an easy lay-up, she also chased the ball immediately to get two free throws from the foul line.

In the fourth quarter, Shinsegae turned the table with Jung`s free throws to take the first lead in this game, and determined its victory rather early with Jung`s lay-up shot and the scores from Lee Eon-Ju and Smith assisted by Jung.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan.donga.com