Brno Thump Pecs

Gambrinus Brno went into the deciding game three of their EuroLeague Women Eighth Finals showdown with MiZo Pecs looking extremely vulnerable after two close games.

A different Gambrinus, and a different MiZo, showed up to play on Wednesday night, however.

Dalma Ivanyi was injured and not at her best for Pécs.

What was the difference?

For starters, Dalma Ivayni, the MiZo captain and EuroLeague Women All-Star, played less than 13 minutes and did not score  in the game. She carried an injury into the game and was clearly not in the best of form as a result.

Even if she had been, there probably would have been no stopping the Czech team on this occasion.

A combination of good defense by the hosts and bad shooting by MiZo left the Hungarian team with their lowest offensive output of the year.

They finished with a woefully inadequate 33% shooting overall, and 15.3 % (two of 13) from three-point range.

Inside the arc, Laszlo Ratgeber's team was a mere 16 of 41 (39%) while at the charity stripe, they were also a bad seven of 13 (53.8%).

Even worse than the shooting, if that's possible, was MiZo's inability to hold on to the ball.

Gambrinus harassed them into committing 27 turnovers. Again, with point guard Ivanyi not at her best, the turnover problem was probably not that surprising.

The run that MiZo never recovered from bridged the first and second quarters, and it started after Anna Vajda's jump shot had left the Hungarian team trailing, 14-11.

Three Czech internationals - Eva Viteckova, Ivana Vecerova and Petra Kulichova - all made jumpers for a 20-11 lead.

Zsófia Fegyverneky stopped the rot with two free throws for MiZo, only for Vecerova to receive a pass from Kulichova and drill another jump shot for a 22-13 lead with five seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

Zuzana Zirkova, who finished with a game-high 18 points, began the second quarter with a three-ball and Kulichova followed with another jumper for a 27-13 advantage.

The lead was double-digits for the remainder of the game.

The Czech team went on a 7-0 run to lead 39-18 and took a 41-22 lead to half-time.

If the horror show had not been frightening enough in the first half for MiZo, it got even scarier in the third quarter when they were held to just three points and trailed 72-25 with 10 minutes remaining.

When the humiliation was over, Gambrinus had scored a decisive victory and booked their place in the quarter-finals.

Quotes Gambrinus Brno vs. MiZo Pécs 2010

Jan Bobrovský (Brno):

"We played very well on defense and after five minutes of the game we were better than our rival. The top of our performance was in the third quarter. I any game in Euroleague we never allowed only thee points (in a quarter). Defense was our main weapon today."

László Rátgéber (Pecs):

"It's a pity that Dalma Ivanyi was inujred. She tried to play but she was not in good shape. We couldn't play without her. Brno was a very strong team today. We had a very good season in Euroleague and I am very satisfied."