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Dynamo Kursk back in Eurocup Women semi-final
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Dynamo Kursk are back in the FIBA Europe EuroCup Women semi-final after knocking out Romanian club side Municipal Targoviste (133-130) on aggregate.
Dynamo, trailing by 18 points after the first leg, waited until the final minute to overcome Targoviste with a trey by Ausra Bimbaite. They won the tie (76-55) with Donnette Snow leading the scoring with 18 points.
Monique Currie ended the dreams of Chamique Holdsclaw and K. V. Imperial AEL with a match winning performance for Nadezhda (66-61).
She finished the game with 30 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals, 5 assists and 2 blocks in 35 minutes of action.
Dynamo Moscow's EuroCup Women competition has come to an end with a second defeat against Sony Athinaikos (66-78).
Marina Kuzina scored 28 points for Dynamo Moscow. Yet this was not enough.
Greek international Dimitra Kalentzou (right) finished with 27 points and 7 assists while Gintare Petronyte had a double-double of 20 points and 13 points.
Saarlouis Royals completed the double over USO Mondeville (67-59) in the final match of the round.
The semi-final pairings are as follows:
TV Saarlouis Royals vs. Nadezhda
Dynamo Kursk vs. Sony Athinaikos
The matches are scheduled for 11 and 18 March 2009.
Select the links below to read the EuroCup Women game report highlights from the games:
1. Dynamo Kursk ended dream of Municipal Targoviste
2. K. V. Imperial AEL had no answer for Monique Currie
3. Sony Athinaikos got the job done
4. Saarlouis Royals beat USO Mondeville
Dynamo Kursk's return to EuroCup Women semi-final
Donnette Snow was on a one-lady demolition act for Dynamo Kursk in the first quarter with 14 of her team's 18 points.
However the guests from Romania, Municipal Targoviste, were playing more collectively and edged the first quarter (22-18) with 9 points coming from veteran centre Gabriela Toma.
With Snow well guarded by the players from Targoviste, Dynamo Kursk were forced to find other offensive solutions.
Sandra Linkeviciene, Svetlana Maksimenko and Varvara Psareva started to hit shots from all over the court as they regained the lead (26-22) with 13 minutes played.
Shay Doron, Anne-Maria Parau and Tina Thompson kept the guests on the tail of Dynamo with some individual actions.
Yet Psareva was everywhere for Dynamo and took her side with the last 2 points of the quarter into the locker room leading (40-32).
Olena Ogorodnikova (10 points) and Doron were quickly in their strides at the start of the third quarter as Targoviste scored 6 quick points.
Dynamo were struggling and Thompson (9 points and 10 rebounds) punished them further with a trey that put the guests in front for a few seconds (43-42).
Three-pointers by Ausra Bimbaite (right) and Psareva restored the advantage for the hosts.
Despite Snow and Jillian Robbins having no luck in scoring Dynamo increased their advantage to 6 points (53-47).
Parau silenced the home fans with the last points of the quarter.
Snow ended her scoring drought early in the final quarter as she and in particular Linkeviciene went to work in chasing down the score.
Targoviste's head coach, Catalin Tanase, was forced to call a time-out with six minutes left to play with his team trailing (63-51).
Linkeviciene and Psareva (15 points and 9 rebounds) continued to find ways to score. With three minutes left to play Maksimenko tied the aggregate score (71-53).
Dynamo's defense kept Doron from scoring. But an interception from Parau got the ball to Linda Fröhlich (10 points) who scored. This turned out to be her team's last points of the game with two minutes to play.
Both sides made it difficult for scoring. However the hosts worked the ball to Bimbaite who nailed a trey with just over 30 seconds to play.
Dynamo were back in front on aggregate. Targoviste ran out of ideas and kept on fouling to stop the clock but failed to score again.
Linkeviciene (16 points and 5 assists) added a couple of more shots from the free-throw line for the hosts to win the match (76-55). So Dynamo has qualified for the EuroCup Women quarter-final with (133-130).
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Nadezhda qualify EuroCup Women semi-final
K. V. Imperial AEL went on the attack from the tip-off as they tried to unsettle their hosts Nadezhda.
Maja Scekic fired in a trey with the first shot of the game. Cindy Lima (17 points) and Sherill Baker (11 points) then took over in the paint as the guests from Cyprus took an early lead (9-4).
However back to back three-pointers by Tatiana Burik put Nadezhda in front for the first time (10-9) with five minutes played.
The lead changed hands a couple of times before K. V. Imperial AEL put together a 7-0 run which enabled them to win the first quarter (23-17).
The guests had the better of the exchange during the first seven minutes of the second quarter and thanks to back to back three-pointers by Scekic they led (37-27).
But K. V. Imperial AEL failed to score again before the interval while Monique Currie (left) went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line for Nadezhda.
So the hosts went into the locker room trailing (32-37) but they were leading the game on aggregate score by 2 points.
The third quarter was end-to-end basketball with key players from both sides stepping up.
Once again the guests from Cyprus had the better of the earlier exchange and went 11 points clear (51-40) with two minutes left in the quarter after a couple of points by Chamique Holdsclaw (15 points).
However Currie from fired in the last 4 points of the quarter (44-51) to bring the two teams level on aggregate.
Currie continued to cause AEL problems in the final quarter. But it was Sheana Mosch (10 points, right on picture) that put Nadezhda back in front (52-51) with a pair from the charity stripes with seven minutes to play.
AEL tied the game on two occasions before falling behind with 2 points from Elena Baranova.
Nadezhda went on to win the game (66-61) to wrap up the series (137-125).
Currie was the player of the match with 30 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
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Sony Athinaikos finished off the job
Sony Athinaikos came to Russia with a 24-point advantage from the first game and ended this EuroCup Women quarter-final tie as a contest in the first quarter leading (30-12).
Dynamo Moscow had no answer for Dimitra Kalentzou and also lost the rebound battle to end up losing the game (66-78) and the series (126-162).
Kamentzou finished the game with 27 points while former FIBA Europe young player of the year and Lithuanian international Gintare Petronyte scored 20 points.
Russian international Marina Kuzina led the Dynamo attack with 28 points. Dynamo Moscow who won this competition in 2007 came into the quarter-final with a perfect record of 10 wins.
Athinaikos now meet Dynamo Kursk in the semi-final.
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Saarlouis Royals eliminating Mondeville
René Spandauw, the coach from Saarlouis, got his tactics right as his team beat (67-59) USO Mondeville for the second time to qualify for the EuroCup Women semi-final.
He managed to dilute the threat of Temeka Johnson, who picked up 2 early fouls and was unable to get into the game. His players turned less the ball over and won the battle of the boards when it mattered most in the final quarter.
Mondeville did not have the best of starts to the game and trailed (7-11) after five minutes of play. But they managed to finish all square (19-19) after 10 minutes.
The second quarter was a lively affair with Mondeville having the upper hand to go in front in the game (40-36) at the break and the tie by a single point.
Mondeville appeared to be in control leading (47-40) with six minutes left to play in the third quarter.
Saarlouis changed their tactics. They went on a 8-0 run to take command of the game with Tyresa Smith (14 points) and Yvonne van Daalen doing most of the damage.
Clarisse Costaz's trey put an end to the Royals run. Yet 2 points by Gillian D'Hondt enabled Saarlouis to start the final quarter leading (50-49).
Romy Bär (14 points - right in picture) fired in a trey to take Saarlouis 10 points clear (59-49) with six minutes left to play.
Lenae Williams and Costaz connected from the land of many as the hosts went all out to save the game.
However Stina Barnert (11 points) and Petra Manakova (10 points) had other ideas and scored the remaining points for Saarlouis to win the game and the series (133-122).
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2010 EuroCup Women quarter-final game two results
Nadezhda 66-61 K.V. Imperial AEL (Nadezhda wins 137-125)
Dynamo Moscow 66-78 Sony Athinaikos (Sony Athinaikos wins 162-126)
Dynamo Kursk 76-55 Municipal Targoviste (Dynamo Kursk wins 133-130)
USO Mondeville 59-67 Saarlouis Royals (Saarlouis Royals wins 133-122)
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Nadezhda Orenburg ended home dominance in EuroCup Women quarter-finals first leg
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EuroCup Women picture credits:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
FIBA Europe
Fiba Europe - Orenbasket
Fiba Europe - Dynamo Moscow
Romain Chaib
sportacaen.fr
Last update: 25 February 2010
