Mondeville Stunned By Ros Recovery

Ros Casares overcame a poor start and then held off a late fightback from USO Mondeville Basket to record only the third victory of their EuroLeague Women campaign, winning 76-73.

After trailing for much of the first three periods, the Spanish side looked to have victory in their sights after building a nine-point lead at 65-56 on the back of Elisa Aguilar's jump shot with just over six minutes remaining.

But USO kept chipping away at the difference as the clock ran down and actually had two chances to tie the match up in the last eight seconds.

Grace Daley missed a three-point effort but her team-mate Julie Legoupil was quickest to the loose ball and grabbed the offensive rebound, giving the French side another opportunity to trim their hosts' lead.

But Legoupil's jump shot was blocked by Nicole Antibe and the chance - as well as the match - was lost.

USO will be cursing not getting anything out of the match after dominating for large spells as they sought their fifth win of the campaign.

They quickly raced out into an 11-2 lead after four minutes and were 45-38 ahead midway through the third period.

The visitors could not hold on to their advantage though as Ros, paced by the impressive Alessandra Santos, showed great resolve to turn the game around.

Alessandra, the Brazilian center, led all scorers with 21 points - missing just two shots all night - while she also hauled down a match-high 12 rebounds.

Alessandra also stood out when USO beat Ros 81-67 back at the start of November, top-scoring with 16 points and also grabbing 15 rebounds.

She was ably assisted on Thursday night by Aguilar, who contributed 19 points and seven rebounds, and Lara Mandic, who scored 15 points as Ros gained revenge for that previous defeat.

For USO, Daley scored 18 points while Legoupil hit three of four from behind the arc in her 12-point haul.