EuroLeague Women match report: Bourges – Halcon Avenida

Bourges did not waste much time in getting off the mark as Emméline Ndongue opened the scoring.

Alessandra Santos De Oliveira also opened her account quickly with the next score for Bourges as her side took an early lead (4-1).

Basko scored for Halcon Avenida. Then the home side went to work defensively while scoring only 6 points during the next five minutes (10-3).

The game became more lively and the first period ended with a late flourish of baskets with Bourges holding on to their lead (20-11).

Bourges had it all their way for the first four minutes of the second period 13-2 to put themselves into a comfortable position (33-13).

Halcon managed to put a stop to the Bourges' advance and went on an 8-0 run to reduce their deficiit (24-35).

However Bourges still maintained control and went into the interval ahead (44-29) with Nwal Endéné Miyem already on 10 points. Basko led the scoring for the visitors with 9 points.

Bourges were not as accurate during the third period. Their shooting percentage dropped slightly.

Yet they did not lose control of the game and maintained their advantage to go into the final period leading (58-62).

Then Bourges quickly pushed their advantage to 20 points (62-42) and maintained this margin for most of the last quarter to win comfortably (76-51).

Santos De Oliveira (left) led the scoring with 21 points. Cathy Melain added 14 and Miyem finsihed with 10 points.

Bourges only scored 2-of-8 from beyond the arc but had 11-of-12 from the free-throw line. Céline Dumerc dished out 8 assists.

For Halcon Anke De Mondt led was the only player in double digits with 13 points.

Ros Casares too strong for Union Hainaut Basket

UHB eventually drew level as Sabrina Palie (left) finished off a move with a shot from down-town.

Milton-Jones put Ros Casares back in front. Then she scored again to complete a 7-0 run for the guests to take an early lead (10-3

UHB came back and finished the period stronger and trailed by only 3 points (14-17) going into the second quarter.

Vedrana Grgin Fonseca's three-pointer within the first minute of the second period tied the game (17-17).

However Laia Palau restored the advantage for Ros Casares with a drive to the basket. She was fouled in the process and added the free-throws.

Palau was back again on the free-throw line as Clémence Beikes was called for an unsportsmanlike foul (22-17).

UHB scored two quick baskets but were to remain behind after Chioma Nnamaka was adjudged to have fouled Amaya Valdemoro on the three-point line. Valdemoro scored all three free-throws.

All the same UHB reduced the deficit to 2 points (25-27) before Anna Montañana set Ros Casares on their way as her side went into the interval leading (41-32) after Roneeka Hodges fired in a three-pointer.

Hodges opened the third period with a trey as the guests held off the game and outscored UHB 18-7 to open up a 20-point lead (59-39).

The hosts were unable to get into any rhythm and by the end of the quarter their deficit had increased (47-71).

The final period turned into a demonstration as Ros Casares won the match comfortably (91-61).

Valdemoro led the scoring with 19 points and was well supported by Milton-Jones with 17 points.

Three other players were in double digits: Hodges, Palau and Elena Tornikidou with 13, 11 and 10 points respectively. Ros Casares also compiled a team total of 24 assists.

Beikes was the only player from UHB to reach double digits with 10 points. Three players finished on 9 points.

Villeneuve d'Ascq eliminated despite victory

Villeneuve d 'Ascq's road victory (76-70) against Umana Reyer does not change anything in the group as the Italian club side are EuroLeague Women qualification Group B winners and Villeneuve d' Ascq are out.

Iziane Castro Marques has been on fire for a couple of weeks appeared as she wanted to take on the Italian side herself as she scored 11 of her team's 19 points in the first quarter as they led (19-13).

Villeneuve started the second period with a 9-0 burst to get the first significant lead of the match (28-13).

Yet Umana Reyer managed to put a stop to their opponents' offensive actions. At the same time they used Daliborka Jokic as their own offensive battering ram.

She scored 9 points as the deficit reduced (26-34).

Villeneuve managed to go into the interval ahead (38-32) due to a couple of baskets by Ljubica Drljaca.

Both sides had their moments during the third period without taking hold of the game.

Villeneuve never allowed their advantage to fall below 6 points and reached maximum 11 points after a three-pointer by Jolene Anderson (53-44).

All the same both sides negated each other's efforts. Villeneuve went into the final period leading (57-51).

It was a similar pattern in the final quarter with Villeneuve holding a 10-point advantage (67-57).

Villeneuve had a number of players in foul problems. Florence Lepron was the first of three players to leave the game with five fouls.

She departed with 5 ½ minutes to play. Géraldine Robert was to follow her to the bench 30 seconds later with her fifth foul.

Mariangela Cirone and Simona Ballardini's free-throws brought the home side right back into the game.

When Jenifer Nadalin hit a jumper with just over 90 seconds to play. Umana Reyer trailed by 4 points (64-68).

The remaining time was played out from the free-throw line with Villeneuve scoring 8-of-12 to hold on to win the game (76-70) with Castro Marques leading the way with 25 points.

EuroLeague Women qualifying Group A

Wisla Can-Pack's (68-63) road win against Besiktas Cola Turka has qualified them for the next round and moves them into second position.

Bourges Basket, Halcon Avenida and Wisla Can-Pack all have the same record with 6 wins and 3 defeats. Bourges have the better record between the three teams and as a result are placed in first position in their group.

MiZo Pécs 2010 ended the qualification hopes of Nadezhda by beating them (88-70) in the final game of the round.

MiZo Pécs opened the game with a (6-0) start and never looked back as they never lost the lead.

Anna Vajda (above) finished with a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds for the winner. She was supported offensively by Kelly Mazzante who scored 21 points. Dalma Ivanyi dished out 14 assists for the winners.

Betty Lennox scored 23 points for Nadezdha.

MiZo Pécs will play Bourges Basket in their last EuroLeague Women qualification round match.

EuroLeague Women qualifying Group B disappointment for CSKA Moscow

MKB never allowed CSKA Moscow to settle and scored the first 11 points of the game and led (23-11).

Jelena Milovanovic (left) scored 7 unanswered points for MKB during a 9-0 run early in the second period as MKB stretched their advantage.

Becky Hammon was everywhere for CSKA with 10 points and 2 assists as she tried to bring CSKA back into the game.

Although their advantage had been reduced MKB went into the interval leading (42-34).

CSKA further reduced their deficit to 6 points on two occasions but still went into the final quarter trailing (49-58).

MKB Euroleasing kept calm during the final period and maintained their advantage to win the game and also move into second place.

Milovanovic led the scoring with 27 points which included 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Katalin Honti was the other player in double digits with 16 points.

Hammon finished the game with 19 points and 4 assists. She was joined in double digits by Ann Wauters and Katie Douglas with 16 points each.

Gambrinus Sika Brno recovered from their defeat against CSKA Moscow on Sunday to beat TTT Riga (83-76).

This result secured their position in the EuroLeague Women next phase and eliminates both TTT Riga and Villeneuve d'Ascq.

UMMC Ekaterinburg passing the 100-point mark in EuroLeague Women Group C

UMMC Ekaterinburg bounced back from their defeat last week with a comfortable victory against ZVVZ USK Prague (103-57).

UMMC took control early in the game and led (18-7) with less than five minutes played.

They went on to outscore their guests (9-4) to lead (27-11) after the first quarter.

Cappie Pondexter, Sandrine Gruda and Agnieszka Bibrzycka did most of the early damage offensively with 8, 7 and 6 points each during the first period.

The second period was a more even affair, although UMMC never looked in trouble. However they only increased their advantage by a single point at the interval (52-35).

A 16-2 run from the start of the third period by UMMC finally broke the resistance of ZVVZ USK Prague. The guests never recovered and went into the final quarter trailing by 38 points (44-82).

Laurant Buffard, the head coach of UMMC had the luxury of playing his entire roster while resting key players.

Bibrzycka led the scoring with 19 points for UMMC while Michaela Feranciková scored 18 points for the visitors.

LOTOS PKO BP's overtime victory on the road (79-72) against Jolly JBS Sibenik has secured their EuroLeague Women qualificatio for the next phase.

For Union Hainaut Basket to qualify they must win their last game against UMMC Ekaterinburg and ZVVZ USK Prague must lose to LOTOS PKO BP.

Spartak Moscow Region scoring 100 points in EuroLeague Women Group D

Lauren Jackson played for only 18 minutes for Spartak Moscow Region against Broker Kosice. Yet she finished the game as top scorer.

She hit 4-of-4 from behind the arc and only missed one shot all evening.

Spartak Moscow were never in trouble in this game and were (29-12) ahead at the end of the first period.

They ended the game as a contest by the interval leading (60-24). However they did not let up and stretched their advantage (86-33) by the end of the third period.

Russian U2O youth international Natalia Vieru scored the 100th point for Spartak Moscow with just under two minutes left in the game.

Spartak Moscow did not score again but won comfortably (100-50).

Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, Sue Bird and Kelly Miller all finished in double digits with 15, 12, 12 and 11 points respectively.

For Broker Kosice Cathrine Kraayeveld did most of the scoring with 22 points.

Beretta Famila blew away TEO Vilnius in the first period (29-8). Then they did enough throughout the game to win (88-69).

For the Italian club side Laura Macchi led the scoring with 19 points. TEO Vilnus have dropped to third place in this EuroLeague Women qualification group.

Montpellier, playing at home, lost the game with a poor third period in which they allowed their guests from Fenerbahce to regain the lead for good and hang on to win (70-61).

Sheana Mosch scored 23 points for Montpellier while Matee Ajarvon scored 22 for Fenerbahce.

Fenerbahce move up to second place while MaximaBroker are in fourth place.