EuroLeague Women: Week 12

In eight games on January 17th there was plenty of action, a fair bit of drama, and some teams learned their fate after a long campaign to reach the next stage in this year's EuroLeague Women competition.

This week saw an all-Russian matchup, and aside from Anastasiya Shilova taking Nadezhda to within one early in the first quarter, Ekaterinburg were running away with it. Emma Meesseman led all scorers with 19 points as part of a highly impressive performance where she made more than 60% of all shot attempts, as her team won 96-53 over Nadezhda. Also in Russia, Dynamo Kursk had a huge first quarter against Bourges, outscoring the French team by twenty points, and never looked back. Bourges tried to get back into the game behind 19 points from Marine Johannes and a near double-double from Valeriane Ayayi, but they could not match Kursk’s superior shooting from all over the floor. Sonja Petrovic had 20 points for Kursk as they won over Bourges with authority, 94 to 63.

Image: FIBA.com

A layup from Antonija Sandric put Polokwice up by two against Galatasaray after the first quarter, and Polokwice then took their biggest lead of the game before a three-pointer from Olivia Epoupa broke the Polish team's momentum. Short-handed Galatasaray did well from short-range, led by Allie Quigley who had 22 points on the night, leading to a heated second quarter. Polokwice held back Galatasaray’s attack for as long as they could, until the Turkish club put up 24 points in the third quarter, stamping their authority on the game. Ewelina Kobryn had a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds for Galatasaray as they went on to win by nine, 86 points to 77.

Kayla McBride had 23 points and Jantel Lavender had 23 points and 11 rebounds on offence for Yakin Dogu against Wisla in Krakow, while Courtney Vandersloot took care of the Turkish side's defence, finishing with fourteen total rebounds. Wisla made it a four-point game with over a minute to go, but Kayla McBride kept Yakin Dogu's noses in front and Sandrine Gruda put the game to bed with the last shot of the game, making Yakin Dogu's winning margin stand at eight. While in France, Marija Rezan had a terrific performance for USK Praha against Villeneuve d'Ascq with 20 points and 15 rebounds. A tight first quarter between the two teams then saw a fourteen-point run from Praha in the second quarter, spurning the Czech side to win 72-59. This game also saw a double-double from DeWanna Bonner with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Castors Braine went on an eight-point scoring run in the first quarter this week, which saw them with a big early advantage. Angela Salvadores and Danielle Page then came off the bench for Sopron to lead their team’s impressive play in the field and take a six-point lead in the second quarter. Britney Jones led the fight back for Castors, but her 21 points could only do so much, and by the start of the fourth quarter Sopron had taken control of the game. Despite Britney Jones tying the scoreline halfway through Q4, Crystal Langhorne and Aleksandra Crvendakic continued to find the basket, and with a five-point win over Castors Braine, Sopron book their place in the quarter finals.

Lattes and Schio battled it out in the first half of their encounter, with twelve lead changes in the first half. After which, Schio pulled away behind their low-post play shot selection. A great game for Isabelle Yacoubou with 18 points for Schio, who finished in Lattes with a nineteen-point victory. Last but not least, Ana Dabovic was outstanding for Fenerbahce with 24 points, but early on-target shooting from Avenida saw them on top for all the first half. Avenida retaliated well after Dabovic gave Fenerbahce their first lead at the end of the third quarter, but later a short-range jump shot from Anastasiaya Veramayenka put Fenerbahce on top by one in the final minute of the game. Laura Nicholls got a shot to drop in the very last second of play, and Avenida celebrated their huge one-point win over one of the league's most feared teams.

For more on the EuroLeague Women, including news, updates and full details on all games, visit the official website.