Herning-Ikast leave no doubt in Scandinavian derby

Apart from in the first minutes, Herning-Ikast Handbold were dominant in the Scandinavian derby against Storhamat Handball Elite to open group D of the Women's EHF Cup group phase. From the middle of the first half, the Danish home team was in complete control and could celebrate a 34:27 in their opening match.

SG BBM Bietigheim seemed to be heading to a clear win, leading 26:21 at home against Handball Club Lada, but the visitors came back and caused the home team trouble at the end but Bietigheim prevailed 31:29.

• Storhamar only brief led in the beginnig, while Herning-Ikast had their biggest leads at 28:19, 29:20 and 30:21
• Helene Fauske scored eight goals for Herning-Ikast, while 10 goals from Emilie Hovden were not nearly enough for Storhamar
• Antje Lauenroth's goal for 31:29 with 48 seconds to go sealed the Bietigheim win, whose biggest lead was five
• Laura Van der Heijden scored six goals for Bietigheim, Elena Mikhaylichenko 11 for Lada

GROUP D

Herning-Ikast Handbold (DEN) vs Storhamar Handball Elite (NOR) 34:27 (17:13)

Both teams came into the game with disappointing results from recent domestic league games: Herning-Ikast drew 21:21 away against Ajax Kobenhavn in the Danish league on Friday, a day after Storhamar had to make do with a 24:24 draw at home against Byåsen Tertnes in the Norwegian top flight.

Herning-Ikast soon proved to be the better team, when it came to rising from a disappointment. After Storhamar were leading 2:0 and 3:1, but the Danish side took over and used a 4:0 run to build a 9:5 lead.

From that point, Herning-Ikast, who won the Danish Cup just before the new year, did not look back, and even though their coach Mathias Madsen made good use of his bench, the hosts went nine goals up, before winning by seven.

The Norwegian players of Herning-Ikast were particularly productive against countrywomen, scoring 16 goals in total.

SG BBM Bietigheim (GER) vs Handball Club Lada (RUS) 31:29 (17:15)

Bietigheim seemed to be heading for a clear win, leading 26:21 with 12 minutes left. Yet, Lada came back into the match, which was not decided until Antje Lauenroth made it 31:29 with 48 seconds left.

Despite Lada starting by going up 2:0, Bietigheim soon took the initiative. It did not take them long to get ahead 3:2, and by way of a two-goal lead at 6:4, they got three goals up several times towards half-time.

While Bietigheim had most success in finding their line players as well as on fast breaks, Lada mainly relied on their backcourt line. Their left back Elena Mikhaylichenko caused the German defence particular trouble, scoring no less than eight goals in the first half alone and 11 in total.

Yet, Bietigheim increased their lead to 26:21, before Lada's impressive finish reduced the deficit to one goal several times.

But just when the Russian side started to believe they might get away with a point, Lauenroth's goal secured the home win.

SG BBM head coach Martin Albertsen was delighted to come away with a win.

"That was a great atmosphere today. We played against an opponent who is definitely Champions League level today. I am all the more satisfied that we won,“ Albertsen said.

However, Lada coach Alexej Alekseev believed his side had enough to get something from the game.

"Bietigheim are the strongest team in our group, but there was more in it for us today," Alekseev said.