2012 EuroLeague Women Final 8, day 3
Rivas Ecópolis meet Ros Casares in final

Ros Casares' next game will be in the final on Sunday, 1 April while Wisla Can-Pack will open the final day in the match for 7th place.

In the second game UMMC Ekaterinburg beat their Russian rival Sparta&K Moscow to play for 3rd place while Sparta&K will be in the 5th place match. French international Sandrine Gruda (in picture) led the way with 21 points.

The second finalist has been determined. Ros Casares meet Spanish rival Rivas Ecópolis who ended Fenerbahçe's unbeaten run in the third game owing their victory to good defense.

This is the first time since 2001 that a EuroLeague Women final is an all domestic affair when Bourges Basket faced off against USVO.

In the last match of the group phase Galatasaray Medical Park finally won against Beretta-Famila but have already been eliminated from playing in the EuroLeague Women final.

1. Ros Casares blow away Wisla Can-Pack in the first half

2. UMMC Ekaterinburg's third-quarter run was enough to beat Sparta&K Moscow

3. Rivas Ecópolis made it to the final

4. Hosts take first win

5. Day 3 - live chat

Day 3 picture gallery

 
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Ros Casares dominated the first 20 minutes in their last EuroLeague Women Final 8 group match (51-24) against Wisla Can-Pack with all 12 players getting at least two minutes on the court.

They hit almost 60% of their shots while their opponents struggled to get anything going offensively.

The second half of the match was much more competitive although neither side was pushing too hard. Roberto Iniguez, the coach from Ros Casares, continued to rotate his players while José I. Hernández waited until the final quarter to give his bench a run.

Ros Casares completed a perfect EuroLeague Women group phase winning (90-61).

Ros Casares: Jana Veselá 0, Silvia Dominguez 2, Isabelle Yacoubou-Dehoui 20 (in picture), Miriam Foraste 4, Laia Palau 3, Katalin Honti 5, Ann Wauters 10, Eshaya Murphy 18, Lauren Jackson 5, Sancho Lyttle 11, Maya Moore 12, Head Coach: Roberto Iniguez

Wisla Can-Pack: Anke De Mondt 12, Milka Bjelica 10, Paulina Pawlak 2, Pauline Pawlak 3, Ana Dabovic 5, Nicole Powell 12, Katarzyna Kreze 3, Ewelina Kobryn 3, Magdalena Leciejewska 6, Erin Phillips 4, Petra Ujhelyi 4, Joanna Czarnecka 4, Head Coach: Jose I. Hernández

The first ten minutes was up and down offensive basketball with neither side able to gain any advantage.

Maria Stepanova (in picture) from UMMC went down on the offensive end of the court with two minutes played and had to be helped off the court.

UMMC had the first 5-0 run of the game to take any early lead (10-2) but Sparta&K was quickly back with also a 5-0 run of their own. Afterwards the teams traded basket for basket till the end of the first quarter with UMMC leading (25-22).

Becky Hammon and Seimone Augustus led the Sparta&K charge with 7 and 6 points each while Yelena Leuchanka with 6 points for UMMC with 6 points.

Although UMMC were not able to continue their hot shooting from the first quarter (60 %), the second quarter turned almost out to be a carbon copy of the first ten minutes, with two lead changes, a 5-0 run for Sparta&K quickly followed by a 6-0 run for UMMC.

UMMC went into the locker room ahead by 3 points (40-37) with Candace Parker leading the way with 10 points, while Hammon had top scored with 11 points for Sparta&K Moscow Region Vidnoje.

The match became rather technical as the two sides played cat and mouse until UMMC took control of the game for good with a 13-0 run. This enabled them to go into the final quarter with a 10-point lead (63-53).

UMMC failed in blowing away Sparta&K. But 13 last-quarter points from Sue Bird (right) kept them in control to the end to win (86-80).

Sparta&K Moscow Region Vidnoje: Candice Dupree 12, Sonja Petrovic 10, Evgenia Belyakova 13, Nika Baric 2, Tatiana Korovushkina DNP, Marina Kuzina 14, Ksenia Tikhonenko 0, Jelena Skerovic 2, Becky Hammon 18, Seimone Augustus 19, Head Coach: Pokey Chatman

UMMC Ekaterinburg: Olga Arteshina 12, Sandra Linkeviciene 4, Sandrine Gruda 21, Yelena Leuchanka 11, Hana Horakova 0, Sue Bird 18, Maria Stepanova 0, Tatiana Vidmer DNP, Candace Parker 14, Denna Nolan 4, Shay Doron DNP, Svetlana Abrosimova 2, Head Coach: Algirdas Paulauskas

Another Spanish team in the EuroLeague Women final

Essence Carson from Rivas Ecópolis was quickly into her stride and scored the first 5 points of the match with the Spanish club on its way.

Once again Anna Cruz was doing all the little things that are not picked up on the statistic sheet keeping her side in control.

The two teams mixed zone with player to player marking and as aconsequence neutralised each other.

Rivas led (20-9) after eight minutes and ended up winning the first quarter (22-15). The difference between the two teams then was the two three-pointers by Elisa Aguilar (in picture).

The second quarter was a completely differencit. However each time they got close to levelling the score Rivas managed to pull away.

Yet Rivas failed in taking a 7-point lead into the interval due to a fast break buzzer-beater lay-up by Zane Tamane from Fenerbahçe (42-37).

Rivas stepped up defensively in the third quarter and allowedFenerbahçe just 4 baskets, while going further ahead.

The tactics did not please the Fenerbahçe coach and resulted in a technical for him with 56 seconds to play in the third quarter.

So Rivas went into the final quarter leading (58-46).

The last quarter was an exhibition of what EuroLeague Women club basketball is all about with the pendulum swinging from one team to another.

The game came to its climax with 42 seconds left to play when Birsel Vardarli's three-ball made it a 1-point game. Yet this was as close as Fenerbahçe was to get because 30 seconds later Vardarli had the ball taken away by Asjiha Jones who then fed the ball to Cruz who finished with a lay-up for the victory.

Fenerbahçe SK: Elina Babkina 7, Zane Tamane 14, Birsel Vardarli 7, Esmeral Tuncluer 4, Kübra Siyahdemir DNP, Nevriye Yilmaz 6, Devran, Tanacan DNP, Penny Taylor DNP, Ivana Matovic 11, Olcay Cakir 0, Nevin Nevlin DNP, Angel McCoughtry 21, Head Coach: George Dikeoulakos

Rivas Ecópolis: Laura Nicholls 5, Essence Carson 17, Kourtney Treffers DNP, Elisa Aguilar 9, Vega Gimeno 0, Amaya Valdemoro 2, Asjiha Jones 20, Anna Cruz 10, Gema Garcia 0, Tijana Krivacevic DNP, Sandra Pirsic 8, Head Coach: Miguel Martinez Mendez

Galatasaray Medical Park won the last match of the day (80-71) against Beretta-Famila from Schio. The match was spoilt by the injury to Chiara Consolini from Beretta-Famila during the second quarter.

The game started at a slow pace and initially the Italian team offered little in defense while the Istanbul side took advantage and opened up a double-digit lead (26-14) by the end of the first quarter.

Galatasaray pushed their advantage up to 16 points during the second quarter but eventually had to settle for a 12-point lead at the break (44-32).

The second half of the match was more competitive and with one minute to play Galatasaray's advantage was down to 5 points. Yet the hosts survived the storm and now play for fifth place.

Galatasaray: Epifaniya Prints 8, Yasemen Saylar DNP, Ayse Cora 0, Bahar Caglar 17, Isil Alben 7, Ivanka Matic 7, Diana Taurasi 17 (in picture), Saziye Ivegin 13, Ticha Penicheiro 3, Tina Charles DNP, Egle Sulciute 8, Head Coach: Ceyhun Yildizoglu

Beretta-Famila: Chiara Consolini 3, Ivana Jalcová 0, Liron Cohen 10, Janel Mc Carville 8, Maja Erkic 11, Raffaella Masciadri 8, Emanuela Ramon 0, Aija Brumermane 3, Jenifer Nadalin 8, Cheryl Ford 8, Laura Macchi 11, Head Coach: Maurizio Lasi

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