Hosts dominate
EuroLeague Women's eighth-final game one

The Russian teams made no mistake in the opening EuroLeague Women of their respective eighth-final play-off series.

Spartak Moscow required eight minutes to take control of their match against Lotos Gdynia (98-49). UMMC took only four minutes to put down Galatasaray (79-55).

Wisla Can-Pack had to wait until the second half of the match to get away from MiZo Pécs 2010 (80-53) to take a 1-0 lead in the best of three series.

Fenerbahce held off Cras Basket in an exciting ding-dong affair (89-83).

Bourges Basket's trip to Salamanca did not go according to plan as they lost (73-52) to Halcon Avenida. Sancho Lyttle was allowed to run mayhem and scored 24 points and picked up 10 rebounds in the victory.

Ros Casares did just enough to get by ZVVZ USK Prague (81-70) while Rivas Ecópoli fell at home (83-89) to Frisco Sika Brno.

Beretta-Famila made it a disappointing night for Italian clubs with a home defeat against Good Angels Kosice (67-70).

Select the links below to read the EuroLeague Women basketball news from the various games:

1. From Russia with love

2. Wisla Can-Pack and Fenerbahce win at home

3. Spanish favourites win big

4. It is possible to win on the road

5. Results and box scores

Spartak Moscow Region have won up to now 14 consecutive EuroLeague Women games after crushing Lotos Gdynia (98-49).

Lotos surprised their hosts at the start of the game by scoring 10 unanswered points in just under three minutes.

Then Spartak Moscow hit back with 11 straight points and took the lead for good (13-12) with just under eight minutes played.

Janel Mc Carville (left) and Sylvia Fowles had a field day as Spartak took full control of the game. Leading (19-14) at the start of the second quarter, Spartak went into the locker room with a commanding advantage (43-26).

UMMC Ekaterinburg required four minutes to control their game against Galatasaray.

UMMC outscored their guests 18-9 to win the first quarter (26-14) and had the game secured by the interval leading (48-24).

Gundars Vetra, the coach from UMMC, rotated his players for the rest of the game with his team coasting to victory (79-55).

Agnieszka Bibrzycka led the scoring with 17 points. The French players Sandrine Gruda (8 points) and Céline Dumerc (3 assists) were both in action for the Russian Champions.

Sophia Young led the attack for Galatasaray with 18 points.

It was one-way traffic for the rest of the match. Mc Carville led the scoring with 22 points while Fowles added 21. Diana Taurasi took a back seat in the scoring department with just 7 points but she dished out 10 assists.

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Wisla Can-Pack Krakow were never in difficulty in their match against MiZo Pécs 2010 but had to wait until the second half of the game to blow the game wide open.

Nicole Ohlde was the main reason that Wisla Can-Pack had to wait until the second half of the match. Ohlde scored 12 points in the first half of the game but just managed 2 points from the charity stripes in the second half.

Wisla also did a good job on minimising the threat of Dalma Ivanyi all through the game.

José Hernandez, the coach from Wisla Can-Pack, was not happy at the interval although his team was leading (42-37). His players tightened up defensively during the second half of the match.

They kept Ohlde at bay and controlled the boards at both ends of the court while only conceding a total of 16 points over the last two periods.

Wisla shared the offensive duties with Janell Burse leading the way with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Liron Cohen added 16 points and dished out 6 assissts while Iziane Castro Marques and Marta Fernandez contributed 13 and 11 points each.

Penny Taylor (left) led Fenerbahce to victory (89-83) against Cras Basket. She scored 28 points, collected 7 rebounds and was credited with 6 assists.

Her team-mate, Turkey international Nevriye Yilmaz, finished with a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Rebekkah Brunson was active at both ends of the court with 25 points and 8 rebounds for Cras Basket while Kathy Wambe dished out 7 assists.

The game was decided by a 9-2 run by Fenerbahce in the final quarter that put them 9 points up (80-71) with five minutes to play.

Fenerbahce did most of their scoring from the free-throw line in the closing minutes to hold out for the win.

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Halcon Avenida demolished Bourges Basket during the first quarter with a 21-0 run to take hold of the game for good (20-5) with eight minutes played.

Sancho Lyttle (left) stamped authority into the game with 13 first-quarter points for Halcon Avenida (28-9).

Halcon Avenida stepped off the gas during the second quarter and Bourges Basket were able to reduced the deficit slightly by the interval (25-37).

Anke De Mondt got the hosts back on track during the third quarter with her three-point shooting.

In addition Le'Coe Willingham and Lyttle dominated the rebounds as the hosts went 20 points clear by the end of the quarter (56-36).

Halcon Avenida went on to win the match (72-53) with Lyttle leading the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

De Mondt contributed 17 points (5-of-7 from beyond the arc) and Willingham added 13 points and captured 7 rebounds.

For Bourges Basket, Ana Lelas and Paoline Salagnac finished in double digits with 13 and 11 points each.

The EuroLeague Women second game will not be available on television but live French commentary will be provided by web radio.

Ros Casares took nothing for granted against ZVVZ USK Prague and led from start to finish to win (81-70).

Erika De Souza (right) who finished the contest as top scorer with 24 points and 12 rebounds.

She was very active from the tip-off and scored 5 points within the first two minutes of the game as the hosts took early control (7-4).

Amaya Valdemoro and Delisha Milton-Jones appeared to be in a hurry to finish the game as they bombarded their guests to open a 10-point advantage by the end of the first quarter (24-14).

Ros Casares continued to dominate their opponents during the second quarter and went into the locker room leading (52-31).

The hosts were unable to play with the same intensity during the second half of the match and ZVVZ USK Prague slowly reduced the deficit.

With less than one minute remaining Ros Casares' advantage was down to 8 points (76-68).

However up stepped Belinda Snell with a trey to make the game safe for the hosts.

Ros Casares had four other players in double digits: Milton-Jones with 14 points while Snell, Hammon (7 assists) and Valdemoro all scored 10 points.

Charde Houston led the Czech attack with 16 points while Sonja Kireta and Lindsay Whalen contributed 15 and 11 points each. Former French international Sandra Le Dréan scored 8 points and collected 8 rebounds.

Ros Casares' head coach Isma Cantó had mixed feelings about the result and explained during the EuroLeague Women after-game press conference:
"This is the Eight-Final Play-Offs and it's not easy to win, even at home. We played very well the first two quarters but after we had problems because we didn't play with the same concentration. On Friday we will play a different game in Prague. At home they are a very strong team like we could see last season when we lost there."

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Lucia Kupcikova came out of the shadow of Angel McCoughtry and Candice Dupree to lead Good Angels Kosice to victory against Beretta-Famila (70-67).

Laura Macchi led the Italian side with a game high 24 points but the ultimate shot to save the game fell to Raffaella Masciadri.

Masciadri who hit a three-pointer with 15 seconds left in the game had the chance to tie the game with five seconds remaining to play. But her shot failed to hit the target and the opponents managed to get the rebound and the game was over.

Kupcikova led her team with 17 points while McCoughtry, Serbian international Miljana Musovic and Dupree contributed 15, 12 and 11 points each.

Frisco Sika Brno played the match with just six players and pulled off an impressive victory against Rivas Ecópolis.

Hana Horakova (left) used all of her tricks as she led her side to victory (89-83). She contributed 21 points, dished out 5 assists and collected 6 rebounds in an entertaining game.

Crystal Langhorne was once again the pick of the players from Rivas with 23 points.

All the EuroLeague Women games played by Rivas Ecópolis at home are shown live by FEB-TV, the web service of the Spanish Basketball Federation.

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Spartak Moscow Region 98-49 Lotos Gdynia

UMMC Ekaterinburg 79-55 Galatasaray

Wisla Can-Pack 80-53 Mizo Pécs

Fenerbahce 89-83 Cras Basket Taranto

Rivas Ecópolis 83-88 Frisco Sika Brno

Ros Casares 81-70 ZVVZ USK Prague

Halcon Avenida 72-53 Bourges Basket

Beretta Famila Schio 67-70 Good Angels Kosice

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