2008-09 EuroLeague Update Vol. 6: Eighth Finals

(Or as We in the States call it: Sweet Sixteen)

Vol. 6 - Jan. 26, 2009 (Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3.1 // Vol. 4 // Vol. 5)

- 2008-09 EuroLeague Results
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- Official EuroLeague Site
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Following the first day of the 2009 EuroLeague Eighth-Finals, a best-of-three series, we saw most of the games shake out as expected. There were, however, two very close contests, one of which featured the day's only upset. MiZo Pécs 2010 entered the Sweet Sixteen as the No. 4 seed out of Group A with a 5-5 record and edged Group B's No. 1 seed Umana Reyer Venezia, which came in with a 7-3 slate, 61-60. In the other close contest, the top seed prevailed as Fenerbache pulled out an 87-83 overtime victory over LOTOS Gdynia. Also today UMMC Ekaterinburg earned a 91-61 thrashing of TEO Vilnius; stocked with three Olympic gold medalists, Spartak Moscow Region dispatched ZVVC USK Prague 102-86; MKB Euroleasing Sopron used its home court advantage to collect a 81-58 victory over Wisla Can-Pack Krakow; Bourges Basket pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 72-57 win over Gambrinus Sika Brno; and Ros Casares Valencia had an easy time downing Maxima Broker Kosice 98-53.

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Player movement
Two teams going head-to-head today received huge boosts from a pair of Olympic gold medalists. Katie Smith (Fenerbache) and Tamika Catchings (LOTOS Gdynia) arrived in Europe in time for the playoffs. Unfortunately for one of them, only one will advance to the quarterfinals. Nykesha Sales is due to replace Swin Cash on ZVVZ USK Prague next month. According to FIBA Europe, Cash has been hampered by back problems and Sales' salary is too expensive for her Latvian club to pay since they didn't advance to the EuroLeague Eighth Finals. Additionally, Ros Casares has bolstered its roster for the EuroLeague playoffs with the addition of Candice Wiggins. As we all know, Candace Parker, who was slated to join UMMC Ekaterinburg for its EuroLeague title run, is pregnant and will not begin her EuroLeague career this season.

Today's Recaps:

UMMC Ekaterinburg 91, TEO Vilnius 61
UMMC Ekaterinburg (10-1) jumped out from the start with a 10-0 run and never looked back en route to earning a 91-61 victory over TEO Vilnius (5-6) in Ekaterinburg, Russia. By the end of the first quarter the Russian club owned a 27-11 lead. Holding steady with a 47-30 advantage at the midway break, Ekaterinburg busted the game wide open with a 23-5 third-quarter rampage and never looked back.

Olympic gold medalist Cappie Pondexter contributed 10 points, a game-best six assists and a pair of steals; while Asjha Jones posted 14 points, five boards, three assists and two steals. Additionally, Poland's Agnieszka Bibrzycka led four players in double digits in the win with 21 points, and Russia stalwart Maria Stepanova had 17 points and seven boards.

Crystal Langhorne, who averaged 18.5 points and 10.0 rebounds a game entering the contest, was held to just eight points and three boards. In fact, the only Vilnius player to reach double digits was Lithuanian national Jurgita Streimikyte, who scored 23 points.

Spartak Moscow Region 102, ZVVZ USK Prague 86
Spartak Moscow Region (10-1) earned its 10th victory in 2008"09 EuroLeague action after dismantling ZVVZ USK Prague (4-7) 102-86 in Moscow Region, Russia. Spartak in the opening minutes took a 18-9 lead and by the end of the first quarter held a 29-22 advantage. The Czech club kept up the pace in the second quarter and by halftime the margin was still in single digits, 49-40. However, Spartak continued to pull away in the second half with a 29-18 third-quarter victory to up its lead to 78-58 heading into the final period.

The USA trio of Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Diana Taurasi were instrumental in the victory. Fowles, who didn't play in the fourth quarter, led her squad with 27 points and 11 rebounds; Taurasi posted 23 points, four rebounds and four assists; and Bird contributed 13 points and five assists. Additionally, Australian Lauren Jackson was the only other Moscow player in double digits with the game's second double-double of 25 points and 14 rebounds.

Lindsay Whalen put in a great effort in the loss with 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists; while Olympic gold medalist Swin Cash just missed out on a double-double with 11 points, nine boards and three assists. Leading the Czech club was Greek forward Evanthia Maltsi, who posted 27 points, five rebounds and three assists.

'It is always nice to win the first playoff game, especially when it is against a good team like Prague" Taurasi told FIBA Europe. -It is a shame that only one of us will be able to reach the quarterfinals. We know that the game in Prague will be a great game but I fully trust my teammates and coaching staff."

MKB Euroleasing 81, Wisla Can-Pack 58
MKB Euroleasing upped its 2008-09 EuroLeague record to 7-4, downing the visiting Wisla Can-Pack (6-5) 81-58 in Sopron, Hungary. Euroleasing held a narrow 39-36 edge at the halftime break. However the Hungarian squad emerged in the second half and blasted out a 23-10 third quarter to pull ahead 62-46 and closed the contest with a 19-12 fourth quarter for the win.

The hosts received 23 points and seven rebounds from Serbian Jelena Milovanovic, 17 points from Aussie Kathleen MacLeod, 14 from Serbian Tijana Krivacevic and 11 from Hungarian Dóra Horti, while the only American on the squad, Amber Holt, contributed five points and a team-high eight rebounds.

The Polish side had three players score in double digits, including 10 points from Candice Dupree, while Polish national Ewelina Kobryn and Serbian Slobodanka Maksimovic each chipped in 12. Additionally, Dominique Canty pitched in nine points.

Fenerbache SK 87, LOTOS Gdynia 83 (OT)
Fenerbache SK (7-4) survived a scare from upset-minded LOTOS PKO BP Gdynia (4-7) today in Istanbul, Turkey, and pulled out an 87-83 overtime victory with the help of three-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Smith's 28 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Foul trouble helped sink the Polish club, which saw Alana Beard and two-time Olympic gold medalist Tamika Catchings, as well as Croatian Emilija Podrug foul out of the contest before the end of regulation. Smith, on the other hand, picked up her second and final foul late in overtime.

The contest was close throughout and as time was ticking down Serbian Ivana Matovic hit a 3-pointer to knot the game at 77-77 with 19 seconds to go to send the game into overtime. Smith scored the first points of the extra period but with 3:02 to go Matovic scored a layup to give the visitors their biggest lead in OT, 83-80. But that was the last basket LOTOS managed to put up. Fenerbache hit the next two buckets and edged ahead 84-83 with 2:05 to play and made two free throws in the final minutes to close with the win.

In addition to Smith's powerful performance against her former EuroLeague squad, Bulgarian Nevriye Yilmaz posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 boards, American Tammy Sutton-Brown scored 12 and Turkey's Birsel Vardarli finished just shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine assists.

Catchings led her side with 24 points and eight rebounds, while Beard scored nine points. Also contributing double-digit scoring efforts were Matovic with 22 points and Belarus native Natallia Marchanka with 14 points.

Bourges Basket 72, Gambrinus Sika Brno 57
Bourges Basket (8-3) took the first game in this best-of-three series Gambrinus Sika Brno (4-7) 72-57 in Bourges, France. Foul shooting hurt the Czech club, which managed to convert just 43.7 percent (7-16 FTs) of its shots from the charity stripe, as did the 22 turnovers.

The game started close with a one-point, 17-16, advantage going to the hosts at the end of the first quarter and by halftime Bourges expanded its lead to 37-26. Brno stabbed back in the third quarter and managed to close the gap to three points, 47-44, on a pair of free throws at 1:14. With 6:32 remaining to play the game was still a 3-point affair, 55-52. However, the Czech side lost its steam as the home team pulled away for the win.

Bourges, which has no U.S. players on its roster, was led in the victory by a trio of French nationals, including 19 points and nine rebounds from Endene Miyem, Emmeline Ndongue added 17 points and five rebounds, while Catherine Melain scored 12 points and had three assists. Three-time Brazil Olympian Alessandra Santos pulled down 10 boards.

The Czech club had three players score in double digits and a fourth come a point shy of a double-double. Mali's Hamchetou Maiga Ba paced her side with 13 points, American Tamika Whitmore and Czech national Petra Kulichová each scored 12 and Czech Hana Horakova finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Halcon Avenida Salamanca 80 CSKA Moscow 69
Halcon Avenida Salamanca (8-3) played host to CSKA Moscow (6-5) in Spain and came away with an 80-69 victory. Halcon led 20-17 at the end of the first quarter and by halftime the hosts were up 40-31. CSKA was able to close the gap to six points, 40-34, early in the second half, but that was as close as the game would get as the Salamanca team kept the Russians at bay. By the end of three quarters the score was 60-53 and the hosts outscored their opponents 20-16 in the fourth quarter for the victory.

Halcon Avenida was aided by a pair of Americans, Le'Coe Willingham with 21 points and seven boards, and Michelle Snow with 12 points and five rebounds. The host team also received 13 points apiece from Croatian Petra Stampalija and Latvian Gunta Basko.

Featuring a pair of Americans in Katie Douglas and Janel McCarville, CSKA received a game-high 15 points from Russian Olympian Ilona Korstin, Belgium national Ann Wauters added 14 points and six rebounds and Becky Hammon had 13 points. McCarville pitched in 12 points and grabbed six boards, while the normally prolific scorer Douglas, was in foul trouble with three in 18 minutes, was held to four points.

MiZo Pecs 2010 61, Umana Reyer Venezia 60
MiZo Pecs 2010 (6-5) pulled off a 61-60 upset of Group B top seed Umana Reyer Venezia (7-4) in Venice, Italy. Trailing 60-59, Brooke Queenan, who played three games for the Chicago Sky in 2008, was fouled by four-year USA Basketball team member Essence Carson with two seconds remaining. Queenan then sank both free throws to give the Hungarian club the unlikely victory. Neither team was able to put much distance between them. After the first quarter MiZo was up 19-16 by half the visiting club owned a 33-27 lead, but by the end of the third quarter Umana trailed 44-42 and the score see-sawed the remainder of the contest.

The USA's Nicole Ohlde scored 17 points to go with her seven rebounds, Hungary's Dalma Ivanyi recorded a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Queenan closed the game with 11 points and six rebounds.

Italian guard Simona Ballardini scored a team-high 14 points, Slovenian Daliborka Jokic had 13 points, Carson finished with 10 points and American Vanessa Hayden grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds.

Ros Casares Valencia 98, Maxima Broker Kosice 53
In the final game to tip-off today, Ros Casares (9-2) had to be happy about its newest player. Candice Wiggins scored 12 points playing just nine minutes in the first half to lead the hosts to a 44-19 lead over Maxima Broker Kosice (6-5) by the midway break. The Valencia, Spain, team cruised through the second half, outscoring the visitors 54-24 in the game's final 20 minutes for the 98-53 victory.

Wiggins, who hit 4-of-5 from 3-point, finished with a team-high 23 points, two-time Olympic gold medalist DeLisha Milton-Jones scored 18, Brazil's Erika de Souza had 17 and Spain's Amaya Valdemoro notched 16 points. While Spaniard Elisa Aguilar didn't score, she had a hand in at least 20 points after dishing out 10 assists.

The Slovakian club had just one player score in double digits, Israel's Liron Cohen scored 15.