Girona and Venezia get onto the front foot in Round of 8
GIRONA (EuroCup Women) - Spar CityLift Girona and Reyer Venezia have given themselves a good chance of progressing to the EuroCup Women Quarter-Finals after producing first leg victories in the Round of 8.
Girona protected their flawless record as they completed an impressive 71-63 first leg triumph on home soil against Bellona Agu, as the visitors were handed their first defeat of the campaign.
There's no stopping Ify Ibekwe at the moment and the Girona forward continued her super run of form with an all-action 21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Her team-mate Kristina Alminaite also excelled with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds to ensure their side has a handy cushion to take to Kayersi next week.
🏀 Final a Fontajau. @unigirona, 71 - @BellonaAGUspor, 63. En breu la crònica del partit a https://t.co/2PxqsCYhtu #EuroCupWomen pic.twitter.com/A8Ce1DRHcR
— Esport3 (@esport3) February 8, 2017
"We are very proud and satisfied with the team," enthused Girona head coach, Eric Suris.
"We played a complete and serious game. We had a good game on defense against a high-level five players.
"They tried some different offenses and we found solutions for them all," he added.
It could have been worse for Bellona Agu had they not benefitted from a classy performance from their own frontcourt star in the shape of Ann Wauters. The veteran Belgian center wrapped up 20 points and 13 rebounds in defeat to limit the damage ahead of the second leg meeting.
E' una fantastica Umana #Reyer!!!! Le ragazze orogranata vincono la gara d'andata 65-56 su @YakinDoguUni!!! Grandi ragazze!!! #lbflive pic.twitter.com/0xbRGzOSlw
— Reyer Venezia (@REYER1872) February 8, 2017
Meanwhile, Reyer Venezia rode their way past the highly fancied Yakin Dogu Universitesi 65-56 as Romania national team forward Ashley Walker came up with an MVP display. She finished the contest with sparkling 21 points and 12 boards.
However, Venezia might be left cursing a late rescue mission from the visitors who were down by as many as 16 points with less than five minutes on the clock. But helped by 12 points and a huge 18 rebounds from Quanitra Hollingsworth, Yakin Dogu have given themselves a better prospect of overturning the deficit in Turkey next week.
FIBA
