EuroLeague Women troubles for Bourges Basket

Gambrinus may have suffered on the offensive boards during the first period with just 1 offensive rebounds to 6 by Bourges.

But they gained the upper hand thanks to the energy of Hamchetou Maiga Ba (right).

She scored 8 points and had 1 assist as the two teams finished on level terms (19-19) by the end of the first period.

Gambrinus opened the game with the first 4 points and held the lead until the very last attack of the first quarter when Nwal Endéné Miyem picked up an offensive rebound to score.

She was fouled while scoring and was awarded a free-throw that she put away to bring the teams level.

Bourges took the advantage of the very first time at the start of the second period with Katarina Manic splitting a pair from the free-throw line.

The game became rather defensive with very little scoring during the fist five minutes of the period.

The pace picked up during the second part of the quarter. Céline Dumerc (left) got the scoreboard working (25-21).

However Eva Vitecková was on hand a few seconds later to hit a trey for the hosts.

Viteckova then put Gambrinus back in front with a second three-pointer, Ana Lelas was adjudged to have fouled her, which allowed Vitecková to have a free-throw which she scored (28-25).

There was a flourish of baskets up to the interval, Gambrinus' perfect shooting from the free-throw line enabled them to head into the locker room ahead (34-32).

Different tactics from both teams at the start of the third period resulted in the hosts extending their advantage (38-32).

Dumerc came to the rescue for Bourges with a trey which she quickly followed up with a lay-up.

Bourges were back on level terms as Veteran Cathy Melain fired in a shot from beyond the arc to bring the teams level once more (40-40).

Alessandra Santos and Miyem started to throw their weight about in the paint and Bourges moved ahead (47-42).

Bourges' problems at the foul line came back to hunt them as Gambrinus were back on level terms as Tamika Whitmore made a three-point play (jump shot and free-throw) and Maiga Ba scored to bring the teams back together once again.

Timea Ivkovicné Béres completed the home side's 7-0 run as they briefly regained the lead. However Bourges were soon level as Manic hit a couple of free-throws (6/11).

Bourges went back in front as Dumerc fired in a three-point-buzzer beater to end the quarter (52-49)

The first four minutes of the final period were nerve racking as both sides were not able to get anything going.

Hana Horakova ended the deadlock as she added 2 more free-throws to the Gambrinus account.

Miyem and Dumerc responded quickly for Bourges Basket before Horakova ended the 60-second burst. Yet Bourges were still leading (56-53).

Gambrinus did all the scoring over the next two minutes as they regained the lead (59-56) with the game entering the last minute.Dumerc ended the home side run of 8 points. However the real drama came about with about 15 seconds to play.

Maiga Ba missed Gambrinus first free-throw of the evening as she split a pair (60-58). She was then to foul out 10 seconds later as she was called for a shooting foul on Santos.

Santos only hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripes. This left Miyem no option but to foul Whitmore to stop the game clock leaving less than 4 seconds to play.

Whitmore split the pair (61-59) , Melain picked up the defensive rebound and with no time to lose managed to get herself into position and attempted a buzzer beater.

Maiga Ba led the scoring with 17 points and was joined in double digits by Vitecková and Petra Kulichová (in picture) with 14 and 12 points each.

Dumerc led the scoring for Bourges with 16 points. Santos was the only other player in double digits with 11 points.

Game 3 will be played in Bourges with the winner of this match qualifying for the quarter-final.

EuroLeague Women play-off already over for three teams

Asjha Jones with 15 points and 10 rebounds was the pick of the players from UMMC as they won (69-46). Cappie Pondexter fired in 14 points while Maria Steponova scored 12 points in 18 minutes of play.

For TEO Crystal Langhore scored 12 points and pulled down 15 rebounds.

MiZo Pécs 2010 ended the hopes of Italian club side Umana Reyer (65-57) with Anna Vajda (left) leading the way with 17 points.

Nicole Ohlde also finished in double-digits and chipped in 15 points and 7 rebounds for MiZo Pécs 2010.

Umana Reyer are the third Italian club to be eliminated from the competition this season.

Ros Casares booked their place in the quarter-final with a comfortable road victory (81-48) against Broker Kosice. Erika De Souza and Amaya Valdemoro both scored 16 points.

The final team to clinch their ticket on day two was EuroLeague Women defending champions Spartak Moscow Region who beat ZVVK USK Prague (92-78)in Prague.

Diana Taurasi (right) scored 26 points, dished out 8 assists and took 9 rebounds for Spartak Moscow Region.

ZVVK USK had the better start to the match and led (21-18) after 7 1/2 minutes played.

Spartak Moscow Region then turned on the turbo and scored 10 unanswered points to finish the first period and completed their (14-0)run early in the second period to open the first significant lead of the game (32-21).

The hosts were unable to reduce the deficit and trailed by 18 points at the interval.

Spartak Moscow Region then paced themselves to victory with Sylvia Fowles, Kelly Miller, Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird all finishing in double digits with 17, 16, 13 and 10 points respectively.