10.11.2010

Fenerbahce Too Hot To Handle For Sopron

In-form duo Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor came up trumps once again for Fenerbahce as the Turkish side powered their way to an 89-72 win in Istanbul to hand a first defeat of the season to MKB Euroleasing in Group B.

The visitors, who had made an impressive start to the new EuroLeague Women campaign found it difficult to bridge the gap in class as Taurasi and Taylor continued their fight for top billing with another couple of influential performances.

Both have already been named as Player Of The Week in the competition and this time they also had Ivana Matovic fighting it out in a bid to grab the headlines as the Serbian-born center racked up 20 points.

Taylor claimed a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds while Taurasi drilled four triples to finish with 26 points to go with her 5 assists.

Having handed Rivas Ecopolis a thirty point hammering last week, the shoe was very much on the other foot for Sopron as they were given a taste of their own medicine by Fenerbahce who dominated from tip to buzzer.

It only took the hosts a little over five minutes to post a double-digit lead as a score by Taurasi put them 20-10 in front and they still held their ten point advantage at 31-21 at the end of the first quarter although at one point they had built up a 17 point lead.

A 13-4 run either side of the quarter break by the visitors might have briefly given them hope that they could haul themselves back into the contest but it was never a realistic prospect with Taylor, Taurasi and Matovic too hot to handle.

Inevitably the home team re-asserted control to lead 54-37 at the half-time interval and never looked in any serious danger of loosening their grip after the break as they traded baskets and ran out comfortable winners.

Angel McCoughtry top scored for MKB EuroLeasing with 19 points.

 

10.11.2010

Quotes Fenerbahce vs. MKB Euroleasing

Laszlo Ratgeber, Fenerbahce coach:
"We played very well in offense and defense. My players enjoyed the game. We really had some good plays during the game. We know that we have to work more to be ready for the next games."

Diana Taurasi, Fenerbahce player:
"we are a new team and day by day by we play better. We really worked a lot on Sopron before the game; we knew they are a very good team, they have really talented players. We started to the game so fast and played so well in the defense."

Norbert Szekely, MKB Euroleasıng Sopron coach:
"We had too many mıstakes especıally on defense. Fenerbahçe are a very good team, an experıenced team."

Tijana Krivacevic, MKB Euroleasing player:
"We did not play well. Theır fans are great. We look forward to our next games and better performances."