Valencia visited Bourges in the first EuroLeague game under the reign of new head coach Israel Sanchis. As well as firing former coach Lange, Valencia have brought in much needed help in the form of US WNBA star Chamique Holdsclaw.

But the new-look Spanish team couldn’t come up with a first road victory, and playing without Amaya Valdemoro, suffered a 66-62 defeat.

		Elodie Godin

Unfortunately for Valencia, it was Spanish international Laia Palau who inflicted the killer blow in what was a close game. Palau, who joined Bourges this summer from Valenica’s biggest domestic rivals Barcelona, hit a jump shot in the 38th minute which killed off the visiting team’s hopes.

All 5 Bourges starters reached double figures in scoring and center Elodie Godin had a double-double, 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Holdsclaw finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for Valencia, but made just 7/21 field goal attempts.

Pierre Vincent, Head Coach, Bourges Basket:

"We won this game despite the fact we have not sufficiently exploited their changes. We didn’t attack very well because we don’t have their great power. Nevertheless, we haven’t played bad at all."

Elodie Godin, Bourges Basket:

"This match was very physical. They played very fast and gave us big problems at rebounds. We have to keep this match in mind in order to work on our weakness for the next games. Our collective has done the best of itself."