Player of the Week Zuzana Zirkova

Gambrinus JME Brno came back from a huge 17-point deficit in the first half to take a heart-stopping two-point 59-57 victory over former champions US Valenciennes Olympic on Wednesday night. Leading light for the Czech club was Slovak international Zuzana Zirkova, who receives Player of the Week honours for pulling her team-mates through a very difficult 20 minutes before fellow players Hana Machova and Ivana Vecerova also lit up in offense.

Defensively swamped by Valenciennes, the home side only managed to score 18 points in the first half, of which 8 belonged to Zirkova. She finished the game with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, leading Brno to the win and a place at the top of the Group B classification table going into the Christmas break. "It was very important victory for us. We improved our defense in the second half and that decided our success," she commented after the game.

Currently averaging almost 11 points and 4 rebounds in the EuroLeague this season, Zirkova is an established international player, at both club and national team level. With already two EuroLeague Championships under her belt (with SCP Ruzomberok in 1999 and 2000), the 23-year old guard led the Slovak senior women to 7th place at the European Championships in Greece in September, where they finished with a surprise win over Serbia and Montenegro. Now back in the club season, Zirkova will be looking to better the 3rd place taken by Brno at last year’s Final Four.