Bourges Basket 68 - CariChieti 63

Kelly Santos had only good memories of her former team and she was the first one to score in Bourges for the Italians.

After that, the Tango captain, Alicia Poto, hit a three-pointer to keep up with the guests. Bourges played very fast and gained the lead due to baskets of Vedrana Grgin and Ljubica Drljaca.

The Italian coach took the first time out already in the first quarter after a three-pointer of Grgin. After that, Marcello hit another three-pointer for Bourges. Then Pettis scored and Bourges was able to even out the match to 17-17.

The Italians played a hard game, but the battle was even. However, Bourges showed some weaknesses again and made several defense errors. Poto nevertheless stated an example in winning the ball in the host’s circle. At half-time, thanks to Ndongue and Drljaca the scoreboard showed 43-33 in favour of Bourges.

The coach of Bourges Basket put his two playmakers on the field but the Italian guests could one more time profit from the French weakness and Nemcova and David scored eight points to a score of 45-41. After a dead period of Bourges ad a loss of the ball, Chieti could even the game to 45-45. In the 29 minute, Chieti even took the lead through a shot of David.

In the last quarter, Ndongue woke up her team. Elodie Godin (one rebound and two points) as well as Vedrana were responsible for the hard won victory of 68-63.

MVP of the Game: Elodie Godin

Quotes Bourges Basket - CariChieti

Pierre Vincent (Coach of Bourges):

“We took some of our chances but our defense was not that good all the time. Sometimes taking the risk was a bad decision and some defense errors led to a few missed shots as well.”

Alicia Poto (Player Bourges):

“We had the impression to play under pressure. The referees did not punish the Italians for their hard game. After having missed a few shots in a row, we realized that we were in trouble. In addition, We also missed some very easy shots. We were never able to play our game during the whole 40 minutes.”

Claudio Agresti (Coach Chieti):

“Overall, we have not shown a great performance – no big mistakes, but some smaller ones. From the beginning of the season, we had several players sidelined with injuries and today we could play with all our team members for the first time. Our participation in the ELW is a great opportunity for the club.”

Eva Nemcova (Player Chieti):

“It was one of the best games our team ever played. Nevertheless, we could not turn our success into a victory; we would have needed more rebounds or better skills to alter the course. Our team has trained very hard and we are now playing together a lot better.”