Current roster of Catz has two Americans, three Finnish national team players, four Finnish junior national team and Russian former junior European champion Lena Reshetko, who's playing in Catz her 13th season. Catz has stated as this year's goal to win third Finnish national championship in a row.

The Finnish champions came to Latvia to play two friendly games with TTT Riga. WBBL.eu got the chance to sit down with the “Catz” head coach Mika Haakana.

Finland have been awarded wild-card to participate in the 2014 World Cup in Spain. How these events influence basketball in Finland?

Overall, it`s a good thing. It`s the very first time when everybody talks about basketball in Finland. 5000 fans have booked their flights to Spain. It`s really nice and good for everyone. I hope that Finnish team can compete at this level.

I checked the Finnish Basketball federation website to find out your Win-Lose record. You have 17 wins this season. How many wins do you have overall?

We have won 17 games and all practice games. We finished the last season with 24 wins in a row. It makes some 45 consecutive wins. If you count in all friendlies, number is around 50 and growing.

So, the streak continues in Riga!

We left Lappeenranta at 8AM. Travelled to Helsinki, took a flight to Riga. Our flight was one hour late, so our preparation time was limited. Long day, however, the girls handled themselves tonight and we managed to win. It`s really good for us! TTT Riga is a very good team.

What are the main reasons why you win?

I think we did a good job on both screens against number 13 – Kristīne Kārkliņa – in the second half. She scored a lot of points in the first half. The game was really tight, rebound by rebound. At the beginning we were struggling a lot. Overall, we improved our performance later in the game, not allowing easy lay-ups and open shots. Our number 12 – Hanna Vapamaa – has struggled lately, however, today she played very good, hitting many three pointers.

How many times you have allowed 75 points in your basket?

Our average is a little bit under 60 points and we score 87 points per game. It`s not often when we allow to score that much points. TTT players played well, they got some open shots. Many nice plays, everybody moving all the time. It`s hard to play defense against this kind of offense.

Do you have plans to play in the EuroCup Women?

Last summer we got a chance to play in the Baltic Women`s Basketball league (BWBL). We had only two weeks to answer. We have won the last two Finnish championships and we need to win the third one to go to the EuroCup. It`s a money thing, of course.

Have you heard about the Latvian and Estonian championship?

Yes, I have heard about it. As far as I know there is a plan to invite one team from Sweden and that`s one option for us too. We are interested in it. Probably it`s not so expensive as to play in the EuroCup.

How many professional women`s teams does Finland have?

I think the number is zero. Some teams have four professional players, most of the teams have 1-4 professionals but most of the players are doing other things as well.