Eurocup Women sees Targoviste take first-leg victory

Municipal Targoviste got at home the EuroCup Women victory they wanted against Dynamo Kursk (75-57) in the opening game of their two-leg quarter-final series.

Tina Thompson led the way for the hosts with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. However it was a complete team performance with three other players in double digits and all the players scoring at least 2 points.

Mondeville travelled to Saarlouis which is actually on the border with France and came away with a defeat (63-66).

Once again Petra Manakova was the leading scorer for the Royals, who had to wait until the last five minutes to take hold of the game.

Sony Athinaikos blew away Dynamo Moscow in the first half. They led by more than 40 points at one stage before settling for a 24-point win (84-60).

Nadezhda Orenburg pulled off the only road win of the first leg (71-64) against K. V. Imperial AEL from Cyprus. The match winner was former Russian youth international Tatiana Burik with 20 points and 3 assists.

Select the links below to read the EuroCup Women game report highlights from the games:

1. Municipal Targoviste keeping hopes alive with a victory
2. Saarlousis Royals beat Mondeville by 3 points
3. Sony Athinaikos defeated Dynamo Moscow
4. Nadezhda won the road

4. Results and box scores

In front of a capacity crowd, Municipal Targoviste scored 11 unanswered points (11-2) to put their guests Dynamo Kursk on the back foot with just four minutes played.

Donnette Snow picked up Dynamo with back to backs scores to reduce the deficit.

They finished the first quarter trailing by 3 points (16-19) thanks to three-pointers by Sandra Linkeviciene and Anastasiya Bocharova.

Targoviste stepped on the accelerator at the start of the second quarter to score 12 unanswered points (30-16).

Shay Doron (left), Olena Ogorodnikova and Anne-Marie Parau continued to apply the pressure as the hosts stretched their advantage by the interval (45-29).

Tina Thompson and Linda Fröhlich made sure that the hosts kept up the pressure while Snow and Jillian Robbins did most of scoring for Dynamo.

Ksenia Lapteva picked up her 5th foul with a minute left to play in the quarter. Thompson split the pair for the last points of the quarter (63-45).

The final quarter was slow and technical. Dynamo did their best to keep their hosts from extending their advantage to the frustration of the home fans.

Targoviste ended up winning the EuroCup Women first leg (75-57) with Thompson (10 rebounds) and Doron leading the scoring with 15 points each.

Fröhlich and Ogorodnikova added 14 points each while Parau finished with 9 points and 6 assists.

For Dynamo Robbins and Snow finished in double digits with 16 and 11 points apiece.

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Lenae Williams' knee injury prevented her from playing in this EuroCup Women tie for Mondeville.

Mondeville paid the price in the closing minutes with their high number of turnovers and generosity from the free-throw line. They lost the game (63-66) despite dominating the rebounds.

In a close first quarter, Mondeville gained the upper hand due to the work of Temeka Johnson and Aurélie Bonnan (20-16).

The second quarter was not tidy and rather scrappy.

But Mondeville managed to extend their advantage going into the interval (34-28).

Although the guests continued to throw the ball away after the break they still led (50-41) after 28 minutes.

A trey by Petra Manakova started the Saarlouis fightback.

They scored 6 more points to close the quarter and trailed by a single point (50-51).

The home fans started to get more involved during the final quarter. With just under seven minutes to play, the hosts went into the lead after back to back scores from Manakova.

Mondeville did get back on level terms briefly before Romy Bär put her side into the lead for good. Candyce Bingham's three-point play gave them the cushion they needed to hang on to victory.

Manakova, Bär and Bingham scored 18, 12 and 11 points respectively for Saarlouis while Johnson, Bonnan and Valeriya Berezhynska finished with 15, 12 and 11 for Mondeville.

For Johnson, this was her first defeat since joining Mondeville. She was hurt towards the end of the game when she twisted her ankle.

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Sony Athinaikos did not allow their guests, Dynamo Moscow, a chance to settle with Ruth Riley and Candice Wiggins combining for the first 7 points of the game (7-0).

Marina Kuzina scored from beyond the arc for Dynamo. These were the only points for the guests during the first nine minutes.

Athinaikos scored 19 unanswered points (26-3) to go more than 20 points clear. Dynamo ended the nightmare by scoring some points from the charity stripes.

Wiggins ended the first quarter with her 14th point of the game from the free-throw line (29-7).

Treys by Ekaterina Sytnyak and Kuzina gave the guests some hope at the start of the second quarter. However 6 straight points by Gintare Petronyte made sure that Athinaikos maintained their advantage (39-13).

The hosts introduced their bench players without losing the momentum to go into the locker room leading (51-20).

It was one-way traffic for the first four minutes after the interval with 11 unanswered points to complete a 15-0 run (62-20).

Athinaikos went into the final quarter ahead (72-34) and then started to struggle in maintaining the pressure.

The Russians took full advantage and reduced their deficit to 22 points with almost four minutes to play (54-78).

Athinaikos woke up and finished the game trading baskets to win (84-60). They will go into the EuroCup Women second leg with a 24-point lead.

The hosts had double-doubles in points and rebounds from Gintare Petronyte (21 and 16) and Riley (16 and 11). Wiggens and Vakina Volonaki also finished in double digits with 16 and 10 points apiece.

Kuzina, Sytnyak and Anna Mikheeva led the attack for Dynamo Moscow with 19, 12 and 10 points each.

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Chamique Holdsclaw fired in 25 points and Sherill Baker added 21 points for KV Imperial AEL in the home defeat (64-71) against Russian club side Nadezhda.

The game remained close for 27 minutes (50-50) with the lead changing hands several times.

Belarus international Katsiaryna Snytsina put the guests in the lead for good with the last score of the third quarter (52-50).

Nadezhda controlled the pace for the rest of the game and were rewarded with a 7-point victory.

Tatiana Burik led the attack with 20 points, while veteran Oxana Zakalyuzhnaya added 12 points. Olga Ovcharenko (above) and Snytsina finished with 10 points each.

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2010 EuroCup Women quarter-final game one

K.V. Imperial AEL 64-71 Nadezhda

Sony Athinaikos 84-60 Dynamo Moscow

Municipal Targoviste 75-57 Dynamo Kursk

Saarlouis Royals 66-63 USO Mondeville

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