EuroLeague Playoffs Underway

Feb. 20, 2013

Tuesday saw the 2013 EuroLeague Women’s playoffs tip off. This round is a best-of-three series and as expected, there were no major upsets. In fact only two lower-ranked teams pulled off road wins: the Tina Charles-fueled Wisla Can-Pack and Nneka Ogwumike-led CCC Polkowice. Charles finished with a double-double of 24 points and 11 rebounds as Wisla clipped host Bourges Basket 57-54, while Ogwumike scored 20 points and grabbed eight boards as CCC edged Nadezhda 74-71.

Game 2 of the series will be played on Friday and if necessary Game 3 will be held on Feb. 27 and 28.

Wisla Can-Pack Krakow 57, Bourges Basket 54
A double-double of 24 points and 11 rebounds from Tina Charles propelled Wisla Can-Pack Krakow to an important 57-54 road victory over Bourges Basket. In one of just two games that saw the lower seed win today, Wisla dug itself into a 20-8 hole at the end of the first period and spent almost the entire rest of the game trying to cut the gap and pull ahead. Outscoring Bourges 15-8 in the second stanza and 17-12 coming out of the midway break, Wisla with 10 minutes to go was tied up with the hosts at 40-40.

Charles scored four points in a 6-0 Wisla run to open the fourth quarter, but Bourges fought back and with 2:51 to play the score was knotted again, this time at 50-all. Wisla went back in front and was ahead 54-52 with four seconds showing, when Celine Dumerc layed in a bucket to pull the game even again. Charles countered with a jumper with two seconds remaining and drew a foul. After Charles converted on the three-point play to put Wisla up 57-54, a last-second 3-point attempt by Dumerc was off the mark and Wisla breathed a sigh of relief.

Styliani Kaltsidou was Bourges’ leading scorer with 15 points. Dumerc finished the night with 11 points and six assists.

CCC Polkowice 74, Nadezhda 71
In a see-saw battle throughout, Nadezhda closed to 70-69 on a 3-pointer at 2:11. But CCC countered with consecutive buckets, including one from Nneka Ogwumike with 57 seconds remaining to get a little breathing room, 74-69. Renee Montgomery closed the gap to three, 74-71, with a jumper at 44 seconds and CCC called for a time-out. Coming out of the break, Ogwumike traveled, giving the hosts the ball back with 23 seconds on the clock. CCC had fouls to give and did so at 21 and 17 seconds, disrupting Nadezhda’s attempts to get into scoring position. With 11 seconds to go the hosts got a potential game-tying shot up from beyond the arc, but it failed to find its mark. CCC was there for the rebound to secure the victory.

Ogwumike finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while Australia’s Belinda Snell and Spain’s Laia Palau notched 16 points apiece for the Polish club. Nadezhda was led by DeWonna Bonner’s 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Montgomery added seven points and three assists.

Spartak Moscow Region Vidnoje 91, Municipal Targoviste 84
After a close first half that ended in a 46-46 tie, Spartak Moscow Region Vidnoje ran out of the locker room on a 15-4 tear that included four points apiece from Seimone Augustus and Candice Dupree and at 4:58, the hosts owned an 11-point, 61-50 advantage over Municipal Targoviste. In all, Spartak outscored Targoviste 26-14 in the third quarter and held off a 24-19 fourth-quarer surge from their Romanian visitors to take the 91-84 victory.

Dupree, who shot 10-of-14 from the field, finished the night with 20 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one block and a steal. Augustus was also in fine form, hitting 8-of-12 from the field for 16 points, while adding six boards and six assists in the win.

Fenerbache 93, Uni Gyor 61
Fenerbache ran out to a 27-18 lead after the first 10 minutes and was up a commanding 54-35 at halftime before settling in for the eventual 93-61 victory over the visiting Uni Gyor squad. 

While Ivana Matovic led all scorers with 28 points, Angel McCoughtry contributed a team second-best 16 points and added six rebounds and four assists. Cappie Pondexter was held to four points, four rebounds and four assists.

Galatasaray 49, ZVVZ USK Prague 48
It took a last-second dagger from the newly-acquired Lindsey Harding, who arrived after the NBA All-Star Weekend in Houston, for Galatasaray to pull out the Game 1 victory, a 49-48 nail-biter over ZVVZ USK Prague.

In the defensive-minded contest, in which not one Gala player managed to score in double digits, Sylvia Fowles and Saziye Ivegin top-scored for Gala with nine points apiece, while Harding finished with eight points. Fowles also had a team-best eight rebounds. Prague saw Kia Vaughn score 15 points, while Rebekkah Brunson had seven as their squad fell behind in the best-of-three series.

Good Angels Kosice 82, Perfumerias Avenida 68
Plenette Pierson scored a game-high 23 points and Allie Quigley added 21 in leading Good Angels Kosice to an 82-68 victory over 2011 EuroLeague champion Perfumerias Avenida. Good Angels roared out of the gate with an 8-0 run and built a 24-17 lead after the first quarter. At halftime the hosts led 43-35 and by the end of the third period, the gap had grown wider, 63-50. Monique Currie, a late-season signing by Perfumerias Avenida contributed 15 points for her side.

Famila Schio 69, Rivas Ecopolis 63
Famila Schio fought off a strong visiting club to pull out a 69-63 victory over 2012 EuroLeague runners-up Rivas Ecopolis. Jantel Lavender was key for the Italian club, capping the game with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Oleksandra Kurasova scored a game-best 23 points for Rivas.

2012-13 EuroLeague Final Qualifying Round Standings