EuroLeague Sweet Sixteen Showdown

Vol. 8 - Feb. 4, 2009 (Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3.1 // Vol. 4 // Vol. 5 // Vol. 6 // Vol. 7)

- 2008-09 EuroLeague Results
- Select USA Basketball Players: 2008-09 EuroLeague Stats
- Official EuroLeague Site
- Have a comment or suggestion? Let us know!

In a tight game of musical chairs which saw eight teams looking to grab the four remaining seats in the 2009 EuroLeague Quarterfinals, all four home teams won to advance to the next round. However, it was not an easy road for any of them. Two games went into overtime, one of which was double OT, while the other two games were won by five and nine points.

The biggest gap saw MKB Euroleasing take Wisla Can-Pack 79-70; Bourges Basket came from behind for a 67-62 victory over Gambrinus Sika Brno; Fenerbache prevailed in the second overtime victory of this series, 79-76 over LOTOS PKO BP Gdynia; and in the day's final game Halcon Avenida proved to be too much for CSKA Moscow, blowing open the game 83-74 in double overtime.

Augustus & Galatasary Host Important Contest Thursday
Seimone Augustus and her Galatasary Café Crown squad moved into the EuroCup Sweet Sixteen last week. However, they must win tomorrow night's game against KV Imperial AEL by at least three points in order to advance to the 2009 EuroCup Quarterfinals. In the first game, played Jan. 29 in Limassol, Cyprus, KV Imperial eked out a 63-61 victory despite a 21-point performance from Augustus and 14 points from Sophia Young. In this two-game series it's all about the combined point total. The scores from both games are added together to determine the winner. Thus, Galatasary is in the hole two points. But, given the home court advantage, Augustus' team should be able too overcome that deficit to advance to this year's quarterfinals.

MKB Euroleasing 79, Wisla Can-Pack 70
Game One: MKB Euroleasing 81, Wisla Can-Pack 58 (@Sopron)
Game Two: Wisla Can-Pack 52, MKB Euroleasing 39 (@Krakow)

MKB Euroleasing (8-5) received 16 points apiece from American Amber Holt and Hungarian Dóra Horti, as well as 15 points from Serbian Jelena Milovanovic, to hand Wisla Can-Pack (7-6) a 79-70 defeat Wednesday night in Sopron, Hungary. With the win, the Hungarian club advances to the 2009 EuroLeague Quarterfinals and will face the winner of today's Brno - Bourges contest in the next round.

Lading 59-51 heading into the fourth quarter, MKB Euroleasing saw its lead slip to a single point, 69-68, with just 1:41 to play. Milovanovic countered 15 seconds later with a layup and scored the game's next two points at the line to give her team some breathing room, 73-68, with 48 ticks remaining on the clock. The hosts continued to outscore the Polish team as the clock ran down and closed with the important victory.

Candice Dupree totaled a game-high 24 points and added 12 rebounds for the game's lone double-double, while Dominique Canty posted 10 points in the loss.

Fenerbache 79, LOTOS PKO BP Gdynia 76 (OT)
Game One: Fenerbache SK 87, LOTOS Gdynia 83 (OT) (@Istanbul)
Game Two: LOTOS Gdynia 63, Fenerbache 60 (@Gdynia)

In what has been the most exciting series, certainly the closest, of all the EuroLeague Sweet Sixteen match-ups, host Fenerbache (8-5) persevered and snatched a 79-76 victory in overtime from LOTOS PKO BP Gdynia on Wednesday night in Istanbul, Turkey. Fener, which also won the first game of the series in overtime, was led by American Tammy Sutton-Brown's 28 points and 11 boards; while Katie Smith was held to six points, adding three assists and four rebounds. The U.S. tandem of Tamika Catchings and Alana Beard, who combined for 48 points, including nine in overtime, and seven steals, simply wasn't enough to topple the home team.

Nevriye Yilmaz, who finished with 17 points, took an assist from Smith for a layup that broke a 65-65 tie with 3:28 remaining in the extra period. Fenerbache never again trailed. Facing a four-point deficit with 1:21 remaining, Catchings nailed a 3-pointer to close to 73-72. That was the final field goal of the game, which saw Fenerbache go 6-of-6 from the line and LOTOS 4-of-4 from the line over the contest's final 25 seconds.

The game, close from the outset, saw LOTOS leading by a point, 46-45 heading into the final frame. The score see-sawed throughout the period and with 1:23 to go Beard was fouled on a layup, but wasn't able to convert on the 3-point play and LOTOS led 63-60. From there Fenerbache turned the ball over twice, while LOTOS had one. Beard missed a 3-pointer, which was rebounded by Sutton-Brown and Esmeral Tuncluer knotted the game with a three and 15 seconds on the clock. LOTOS called a time out to regroup, but was unable to put points on the board before regulation ended.

At halftime, the visiting Polish club is leading by five points, 39-34, thanks in part to 14 points from Catchings, who was 4-of-6 from 3-point land in the first half, and 12 points from Beard. LOTOS had been able to hold Smith to just two points, but Fenerbache received 18 points in the first half from Sutton-Brown to keep it close.

Sutton-Brown was a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe in the contest, while Smith shot 4-of-4 from the line in the overtime period and hit her only 2-point try in the contest. Catchings finished the night with 26 points, five in overtime, on 5-of-8 from 3-point, eight rebounds and four steals; while Beard contributed 22 points and had three steals.

Fenerbache outrebounded LOTOS by a huge 40-26 margin, made 24-of-27 (.888) of its tries from the line compared to the Polish squad's 15-of-19 (.789) from the stripe, but only made 3-of-12 (.750) from 3-point to LOTOS' 9-of-22 (.409) from afar. LOTOS had 16 turnovers to Fenerbache's 21, 10 of which came off LOTOS steals.

Bourges Basket 67, Gambrinus Sika Brno 62
Game One: Bourges Basket 72, Gambrinus Sika Brno 57 (@Bourges)
Game Two: Gambrinus Sika Brno 61, Bourges Basket 59 (@Brno)

Trailing 61-53 with under six minutes to play, Bourges Basket (9-4) outgunned Gambrinus Sika Brno (5-8) 14-1 to close the contest and advance to the next round. Bourges tied it up at 61-all on a Catherine Melain 3-pointer at 3:13 and took its first lead since a 45-43 edge midway in the third quarter with a Emmeline Ndongue traditional 3-point play at 2:11. Brno was unable to recover from there, committing three more fouls, all of which sent Bourges to the line, going 0-of-4 from 3-point and 1-of-2 from the line

Catherine Dumerc powered the host French squad with 23 points and four assists, while Katarina Manic had 17 points and three assists. Melain finished with six points, six boards and seven asssts, while Ndongue came close to a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.

For the Czech side, Zuzana Zirková scored a high of 19 points to go with six rebounds and Hamchetou Maiga Ba posted 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds. American Tamika Whitmore was held to three points and three rebounds.

Halcon Avenida 83, CSKA Moscow 74 (2 OT)
Game One: Halcon Avenida Salamanca 80 CSKA Moscow 69 (@Salamanca)
Game Two: CSKA Moscow 95, Halcon Avenida Salamanca 64 (@Moscow)

It took two overtimes, but host Halcon Avenida (9-4) fended off CSKA Moscow (7-6) for an 83-74 victory in Salamanca, Spain, behind a game-high double-double from Michelle Snow of 23 points and 14 rebounds.

CSKA led most of the contest, jumping ahead early and owning a 42-30 at halftime and owned a 13-point lead, 49-36, with 14 minutes to play in regulation. But Salamanca never gave up. Cutting the gap to 51-44 by the end of the third period, the hosts continued to chip away at the score when Snow hit a jumper to pull to 60-57 but missed the extra free throw. Edwige Lawson-Wade grabbed the board, but the ref blew an offensive foul on Becky Hammon, sending her to the bench with her fifth foul and a minute to play. Belgium national Anke DeMondt netted a 3-pointer to tie up the contest and Ann Wauters missed a would-be game-winning jumper for CSKA, sending the game into overtime.

The game remained close throughout the first overtime and with a minute to play Lawson-Wade hit a bucket to give CSKA a 66-63 lead.
Then the outstanding Donnette Snow drilled a three with just four seconds left in overtime to send the contest to a second OT.

With the game level at 68-68 in the second extra period, Avenida made five straight free throws - four by Spain international Isa Sanchez - and stayed on top for the remainder of the game.

CSKA led by as many as 12 points in the first half and were on top 49-36 with 3:57 to go in the third period after a Becky Hammon three-ball.However, Halcon Avenida again drilled a 3-pointer to keep play going. this time it came from Snow, who nailed her only three of the game with four seconds to go and kept her team's playoffs hopes alive.

Witht the game tied at 68-68 and four minutes remaining, Halcon Avenida pulled ahead to 73-68 on 5-of-6 from the line. Following a pair of Janel McCarville free throws, which brought the score to 73-70, Halcon Avenida scored six unanswered points and effectively took the wind out of CSKA's sails. Holding an insurmoutable 79-70 lead with less than a minute to play, Halcon continued to feed off its fans and with the score 81-74, Silvia Dominguez stole the ball from Ann Wauters and Le'Coe Willingham put the icing on the win with the game's final two points as time wound down.

In addition to Snow's contributions, the Spanish squad received 13 points from Isa Sanchez, Willingham added 12 and Gunta Basko scored 10. DeMondt and Dominguez each chipped in nine points.

In contrast to the host team's well-balanced scoring, CSKA got 21 points from Wauters, 20 from Hammon and 12 from McCarville. WNBA and EuroLeague All-Star Katie Douglas did not play.