Phard Napoli battled until the end but they were unable to stop visitors Dynamo Moscow on Thursday.
The Russian outfit won for the third time in four games, 66-60, with Tammy Sutton-Brown scoring a game-high 21 points and hauling down 10 rebounds and Oxana Rakhmatulina pouring in 17 and pulling down five boards.
Keeping the bigger Russians off the boards was a concern beforehand for Napoli and it proved to be justified as Dynamo grabbed 44 rebounds - twice as many as the Italian team.
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Francesca Zara had 12 points for Phard Napoli
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Dynamo trailed only once in the game at 28-27 with just over six minutes left in the second quarter following a three-pointer from Alicia Thompson.
Sutton-Brown & Co moved back in front, however, and built a 44-34 lead midway through the third quarter.
Phard refused to go away and went on an 8-0 run to tie the contest at 48-48 a minute and a half into the fourth quarter, but Dynamo seemed to always have an answer.
Sutton-Brown, a 1.93m center, made a lay-up and was fouled, and sank the free throw for a three-point play.
Francesca Zara made a jump shot to take her points tally to nine and pull the home team to 51-50, only for the 1.90m forward Kamila Vodickova to drain a jumper and then 1.8m guard Rakhmatulina to score successive baskets for a 57-50 lead.
After that score, three times the Napoli team cut the deficit to five but they were unable to get any closer with Sutton-Brown and the 1.90m forward Natalia Vodopiyanova putting most of the points on the board for Dynamo.
Vodopiyanova finished with eight points and nine rebounds.