Spartak Moscow make it three EuroLeague Women titles in a row

Gunta Basko came out firing on all cylinders at the start of the game with 8 of her team’s first 11 points as Halcon Avenida led (11-10) with five minutes played.

However she was not the only player on fire early on. Spartak Moscow Region’s Diana Taurasi responded in kind with 13 of her team’s 22 first-half points as her side edged the first quarter (22-21).

All in all the first period was fast end to end basketball with both sides having their moments.

Mariana Karpunina (left) scored 6 points for Spartak Moscow with Sue Bird conducting the plays.

For the hosts Le'Coe Willingham put in 5 points while Michelle Snow (partially in picture) was holding the defence.

Sylvia Fowles got into foul problems early and had to leave the game.

The pace slowed down at the start of the second period with most of the points coming from the free-throw line with Spartak Moscow holding on to the advantage (26-23).

Jose I. Hernández, the Avenida’s head coach, called for a time-out as he wanted to change his offensive options.

Yet it was Spartak Moscow Region that did better after the break.

Bird fired in a three-pointer from down-town. She then quickly followed this up with good defending which resulted in Taurasi forcing Silvia Dominguez into turning the ball over.

This resulted in a fast break that was concluded by Karpunina.

Bird completed her sequence with a drive to the basket and then a cut-back pass to Taurasi who landed her 16th point from beyond as Spartak’s advantage reached double digits (37-25) with 16 minutes played.

Halcon Avenida lost the battle on their defensive rebounds and also struggled to break down their opponents’ defense.

In addition Lauren Jackson (10 first-half points) added to their problems as she started to score more regularly.

Basko and Willingham did their best offensively but it was the defending champions that went into the interval leading (46-34).

Fowles returned to the game at the start of the third period to score her first points of the match and the first points of this quarter. She also started to dominate the boards at both ends of the court.

The game became more physical and Willingham talked herself into a technical which allowed Bird to add 2 more points to her account.

Spartak Moscow Region held on to their advantage (55-43) with 26 minutes played despite losing Jackson for three fouls.

When Jackson returned to action she fired in a three-pointer as her side stepped on the accelerator to lead (62-46) despite having 5 players in foul problems.

The home crowd became rather quiet which appeared to fire up Isabel Sanchez as she took on Spartak Moscow herself with a trey followed by free throws.

However it was not enough to bring down the deficit going into the final period (54-66).

Taurasi was left open once again from beyond the arc and she said thank you very much for her 23rd point of the game.

She then set up Fowles for the next points. Fowles (off a pass from Bird) scored to end the game as a contest with 33 minutes played (73-54).

Spartak Moscow Region went on to win (85-70).

UMMC Ekaterinburg destroyed MKB Euroleasing

UMMC Ekaterinburg were quickly into their stride and with less than 10 seconds on the game clock Sandrine Gruda got to the free-throw line after being fouled by Amber Holt while driving to the basket.

Gruda made her two free-throws. However Holt made amends a few seconds later with a trey of MKB Euroleasing.

The two teams then traded scores from the free-throw line before Gruda scored from open play to get UMMC on their way.

MKB were having problems inside. Then Maria Stepanova fired in back to back baskets which was quickly followed by a Cappie Pondexter running jump shot (12-7) with five minutes played.

UMMC punished MKB each time they turned the ball over and edged the first period (18-9).

Katalin Honti scored the first points of the second quarter for MKB before two scores in the paint by Gruda put UMMC back in control (22-11).

Norbert Székely, the MKB head coach called for a time-out and tried to settle his players down.

His words were in vain as his young side was out hussled and out rebounded as UMMC increased their advantage (33-16).

Jelena Milovanovic ended the onslaught with her first points of the game with a trey after almost 19 minutes of play.

UMMC were soon back into their stride and went into the interval leading (37-22).

A catalogue of misses from the free-throw line was the story during the first five minutes of the third period.

However a couple of three-pointers by Agnieszka Bibrzycka (right No.12)allowed UMMC to open a 20-point lead (47-27) with only 23 minutes played.

For MKB things could not get any worse when Honti was called for an unsportsmanlike foul in the centre of the court. Yet Deanna Nolan went on to miss the free-throws.

Pondexter got MKB back on track with a couple of baskets including a three-pointer as the lead grew (52-29) with just over 25 minutes played.

UMMC dropped the pace a little which allowed their opponents to score a few points. But they were able to go into the final period leading (61-39) with a last-second three-pointer by Svetlana Abrosimova.

Gundars Vetra, the UMMC head coach, continued to turn his bench while Asjha Jones continued her domination as her side continued to increase their advantage (69-41) with 33 minutes left.

The game lost all its intensity and the two teams played the game out with UMMC winning (80-56).