The third round of games in the EuroLeague Women did not go well for Villeneuve d'Ascq as they were beaten again. This time they lost on the road to MKB Euroleasing from Hungary (81-57).
Bourges Basket's perfect series continues as they cruised past Nadezhda Orenburg (79-45).
In the final period she failed to score and TEO Vilnius went on to win (78-67).
Union Hainaut Basket are the team of suspense in the LFB and it now appears that they want to achieve this title in the EuroLeague Women competition.
UHB looked down and out after the first quarter but managed to pick themselves up and then went on to win in a nail biting finish to (85-82) against LOTOS PKO BP.
We have EuroLeague Women match reports from four games involving teams from the LFB. You will be able to select the game of interest from the links below.
Villeneuve started the game rather aggressively and scored the first 4 points of the match.
MKB EuroLeasing, pushed by their home supporters, slowly got into the match to go on a 11-2 run.
Then Anderson fired in another three-pointer for Villeneuve. In the meantime Géraldine Robert did her best all over the court as Villeneuve managed to stay in contact with their hosts (25-27).
Horti and Anderson then went on a scoring spree for their team. Anderson tied the game (29-29) before Horti put the hosts in front for good.
MKB went on the rampage and finished the second quarter with a 10-1 run to go ahead (41-30).
Villeneuve did not have the energy or resource to cope with MKB during the second half of the match. Hence the game as a contest was ended as MKB paced themselves to victory (81-57).
MKB were almost perfect from the free-throw line with 14-from-15. Katalin Honti led the scoring with 23 points and 13 rebounds for MKB. Milovanovic scored 20 while Horti finished on 18 points.
Anderson scored 19 points for Villeneuve while Robert finished with a double-double 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Another EuroLeague Women victory for Bourges Basket
With less than eight seconds on the clock Emméline Ndongue had already put the first points on the board. She went on to score the next 4 points as Bourges opened (6-0).
Nadezhda finally broke the Ndongue sequence and slowed down the homeside's advance for a couple of minutes (7-10).
Bourges then stepped on the accelerator with 7 quick points(17-10). They then went ahead by 10 points with just over five minutes played as Ana Lelas hit her second trey of the match.
Bourges dominated the rest of the first period to go (27-15) into the second quarter.
They continued their advance midway through the second period (40-19) to go into the interval with a commanding lead (51-20).
Pierre Vincent, the Bourges head coach, started to turn his bench as the game ended as a contest midway through the third period with his team leading (60-24).
Bourges's only other points came from the free-throw line from Cathy Melain as Bourges went into the final period leading (62-27).
With the game won Vincent introduced two players from the Bourges Basket Academy Elsa Martin and Tamzin Barroilhet.
Neither player managed to get on the score sheet on their EuroLeague Women début as Bourges went on to win (79-45).
Endéne Miyem and Lelas scored 16 points while Céline Dumerc finished on 9 points but handed out 6 assists. Carine Paul (in picture above) also had 5 assists.
For Nadezhda Orenburg, Zane Tamane was the only player in double digits with 12 points.
No EuroLeague Women joy for Montpellier
Sheana Mosch wasted no time in opening her account for Montpellier as she fired in a shot from beyond the arc before the spectators could settle into their seat.
Lindsey Wilson then put in the first points for TEO Vilnius moments later with a jump shot. The two sides were on level terms (5-5) after a trey by Ausra Bimbaite with a little over one minute played.
Both teams went on the offensive. During a lively spell in which both sides played open offensive basketball the game remained tied (17-17).
Mosch once again found space to score. Afterwards Pauline Krawczyk hit a couple of free-throws as it appeared that Montpellier was about to take control.
Noel Kuin put a stop to Montpellier's advance with a couple of free-throws. This was quickly followed by a trademark throw-back (tap-in) by Crystal Langhorne (right)to take the lead (20-21).
The last two minutes of the first period were rather tame with the only points coming from the free-throw line with TEO regaining the advantage (24-22).
TEO had the better of the play at the start of the second period and increased their advantage (29-22).
Montpellier then found their scoring touch and with Khadijah Whittington causing mayhem came storming back (32-33).
Langhorne again came to the rescue of TEO (35-32) to end the onslaught.
They then changed defensive systems which restricted Montpellier to only score 2 points during the last five minutes of the quarter.
Jurgita Streimikyte scored the last 6 points of the first half for TEO to go into the locker room leading (41-34).
Before the interval Streimikyte was already on 12 points and Langhorne had 10 points and 7 rebounds for TEO while Whittington scored 13 points. On the other hand Montpellier only managed 9 rebounds.
TEO continued to have the better of the offensive play and opened the first significant lead of the game (46-36) after 22 minutes of play.
Krawczyk started the Montpellier revival with a couple of free-throws. Mosch scored back to back before Gaëlle Skrela hit a shot from down-town. Montpellier had reduced the deficit (44-48) and were looking in control.
Rutenis Paulauskas, the head coach from TEO, was not happy. When Langhorne was called for a three-second violation a time-out was called.
The two sides went on the offensive as they traded basket for basket. Mosch and Streimikyte were both in their element for their teams and Montpellier trailed by 2 points (52-54).
Rima Valentiene hit a three-pointer for TEO. Elodie Bertal replied for her first trey of the night.
Mosch completed the comeback with a buzzer beater to take both teams into the final period tied (57-57).
Whittington gave the hosts the lead briefly as she split a pair of free-throws. 20 seconds later Valentiene was to score from beyond the arc for TEO.
Gintare Petronyte scored 3-of-4 from the free-throw line as the game reached its climax. Skrela hit her second trey of the game as Montpellier trailed (61-63) with eight minutes to play.
Unfortunately the fireworks stopped as TEO went defensive and only allowed Montpellier 2 points from the free-throw line during the next six minutes.
Although they managed to only score 10 points during the period it was enough (73-63) to put the game out of the reach of Montpellier.
TEO went on to win (78-67) with Streimikyte leading the way with 18 points. Langhorne compiled a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds while Petronyte finished on 12 points.
Mosch scored 19 points and Whittington 18 for the hosts.
EuroLeague Women success for UHB
UHB finding it hard to compete with their opponents' perfect shooting in the first half
Union Hainaut may have been playing at home but there is nothing you can do when your opponents hit 90 % of their shots.
LOTOS PKO BP Gdynia was on fire during the first quarter with Katsiaryna Snytsina hitting 3-of-3 from behind the arc. Emilija Podrug scored 11 points with a perfect 4-of-4 which included one three-pointer.
Ivana Matovic did her damage in the paint as she scored 12 points off a perfect shooting.
Hainaut managed only one rebound on the defensive end by Tiffany Stansbury during the first period as they were second best in all sectors of the game.
LOTOS PKO BP opened with a (7-1) start. They relaxed a little allowing their hosts to come into the game with Sabrina Reghaissïa scoring 6 points as UHB came to within 2 points (9-11).
Afterwards it was just one-way traffic as LOTOS PKO BP moved from (17-13) to (35-16) by the end of the first period with Natallia Marchanka hitting a period-buzzer trey for LOTOS PKO BP.
Chioma Nnamaka (right) fired in a trey at the start of the second quarter to give the home fans something to cheer about.
Then the pace slowed down with only 5 points scored in the next three minutes from Magdalena Leciejewska and a three-pointer by Alana Beard for Lotus (40-19).
Union finally found a solution to stop the inside penetration of their guests. As a result Lotus PKO BP started to miss their shots.
However they continued to remain perfect from beyond the arc and maintained their advantage (45-24).
Union started to run the ball and went on a 12-0 run with Reghaissïa finishing the run with a three-pointer from a pass from Kathy Wambe (39-49).
Yet the guests still managed to finish the quarter stronger. Marchanka scored again on the buzzer by the end of the first interval, this time with a lay-up (52-39).
UHB turns things around during the second half
With less than 10 seconds on the clock Nnamaka fired a shot from beyond the arc to get Union started as they went out to reduce their deficit.
Clémence Beikes and a second trey from Nnamaka brought Union Hainaut right back into the game (47-52) after 22 minutes of play.
LOTOS PKO BP started to struggle. Despite Podrug's lay-up, it was the home side that dominated. With just under two minutes to play in the quarter the game was all tied (61-61) as Reghaïssia made one of her trademark jump shots.
On the next action Reghaissïa hit a shot from down-town and Union were in front for the first time in the game (64-61).
Union held on to their advantage to go into the final period leading (65-62).
Beard opened the scoring in final period with a (2 +1) for the guests. Bernadette (Mudju) Ngoyisa replied for Union with a couple of free-throws as she took over duties in the paint from Stansbury.
Both teams started to take risks and the game was tied for only the second time (71-71) as Marchanka was to fire a shot from the land of many.
Back to back baskets by Vedrana Grgin Fonseca (left) and Reghaissïa appeared to give Union the edge. But Beard was back for the guests with her second three-point play (2+1) of the period.
Nnamaka restored the home side's advantage with a three-pointer. Then both sides traded baskets which allowed Union to lead (80-76).
With money-time approaching Ngoyisa split a pair of free-throws. The two teams started to take more risks but ended up missing crucial shots.
Marchanka set up a tense finish as she hit a jump shot with less than 90 seconds to play (76-78).
Beard was called for a foul on Reghaissïa as the latter one attempted a shot from the three-point line. Reghaissïa shot missed but she was award three free-throws and made them all.
Beard then managed to force Laëtitia Kamba into fouling her and was rewarded with a couple of free-throws which she scored (80-84).
The game was in the last minute. Despite a comedy of errors fromboth sides and a late score from Beard. Union Hainaut held on to win as Beikes split a pair of free-throws to make up for the pair she missed earlier (85-82).
Reghaissïa led the scoring with a game high 21 points and was joined indouble digits by three players with 13 points: Ngoyisa, Nnamaka and Wambe.
For LOTOS PKO BP five players finished in double digits with Podrug leading the way with 19 points. Matovic contributed 16 points. The three other players in double digits were Beard, Marchanka and Snytsina with 14,13 and 12 points respectively.
EuroLeague Women Group A
Halcon Avenida are becoming the masters of leaving it late.
Playing away from home they waited until the last four minutes before pulling away from their hosts Besiktas Cola Turka to win (67-61).
Anke De Mondt was in the basketball news again after her game-winning trey last week. This time it was her three-pointer that tied the game for the last time at (52-52).
Le'coe Willingham led the scoring with 15 points while Gunta Basko, Silvia Dominguez and Donnette Snow all scored 13 points.
Shay Doron top scored for the hosts with a game high 17 points.
Chamique Holdsclaw is a player that appears to love EuroLeague Women basketball. She led her team in scoring and rebounds with 22 points and 11 rebounds as her team Wisla Can-Pack held off the late challenge of their hosts MiZo Pécs 2010 (66-65).
Bourges Basket are the only team with a perfect record in this Euroleague Women group.
EuroLeague Women Group B
CSKA Moscow came to live in the final quarter as Ilona Korstin (left) who had not scored in the first three quarters went on the rampage with the first 7 points for her side including a trey to bring them to within a single point.
Becky Hammon (also known as Rebekka Khammon) fired in a trey to finally bring CSKA on level terms with their hosts Gambrinus with just under 4:30 to play.
Any hope of a CSKA victory disappeared when Eva Viteckova scored, followed by 5 points from Zuzana Zirkova (64-57).
The last couple of minutes were not pretty as the hosts Gambrinus kept CSKA at bay to win (70-65).
The Italain side Umana Reyer continued to win as they beat TTT Riga (74-65).
In a strange match, Umana Reyer who were playing at home, struggled during the first two quarters to impose their style. They went into the locker room trailing (37-44).
However they turned things around with a 20-0 run during the first eight minutes of the third period to take the lead.
They held off a late challenge by the guests to hold on to the advantage and win the match.
Vanessa Hayden-Johnson and Daliborka Jokic had 12 points apiece for the Italian team while Essence Carson scored 30 points for TTT.
With this victory Umana Reyer go top in EuroLeague Women Qualifying Group B.
EuroLeague Women Group C
Winning at home is the pattern in this group. Only Russian side UMMC Ekaterinburg have managed a win on the road.
Ros Casares had a difficult task in trying to win on the home court of UMMC in front of a capacity crown of 6500.
However UMMC made things difficult for themselves as they trailed (28-43) at the interval.
Yet they made up their deficit during the third period as the team started the final quarter level (52-52).
The game remained close all through the final period and went to overtime thanks to Amaya Valdemoro (right) from Ros Casares.
Cappie Pondexter made things safe early in overtime as the home side went on to win (89-81).
Pondexter finished with a game high 23 points and was joined in the 20s by Agnieszka Bibrzycka with 22 points.
Valdemoro also finished with 22 points but for the losing team. Her team mate Erika De Souza scored 16 points and took 15 rebounds.
UMMC lead this EuroLeague Women group with three wins while Ros Casares are on one victory.
Jolly JBS with 26 points from Constance Jinks held off ZVVZ USK Prague (76-70) for their second win.
EuroLeague Women Group D
Maxima Broker Kosice won for the third time with a road victory against Beretta Famila (76-60).
They consolidate their position as EuroLeague Women qualification round group D leaders.
Spartak Moscow Region bounced back from last week's reversal with a comfortable victory against Fenerbahce (95-52).
Montpellier are the only team without a victory so far.
The third round of games in the EuroLeague Women did not go well for Villeneuve d'Ascq as they were beaten again. This time they lost on the road to MKB Euroleasing from Hungary (81-57).
Dóra Horti and Jelena Milovanovic (right) hit back to back three-pointers as MKB took command of the match. They increased their lead (25-16).
