Strong defense and a fast start helped Bourges Basket beat Halcon Avenida 74-58 in the teams' opening EuroLeague Women contest.

Bourges jumped out to a 21-12 first quarter lead and maintained their double-digit advantage for most of the game.

The French giants built their lead to 45-29 by halftime, thanks mainly to their stingy defense.

		Halcon Avenida shot just 38 percent for the game.

Bourges held Halcon Avenida to 38 percent shooting from the field for the entire game.

"I think we are going to see more games like this," said Halcon head coach Jose Hernandez. 

"We have a short roster and in the EuroLeague we need more players, tall players because their forwards were over 185 cm and we don’t have players like these. The EuroLeague is going to be tough for us."

Bourges' offense was solid as four players tallied double-digits.

The team dished out 19 assists.

Vicky Hall led the way with 19 points, while Céline Dumerc added 15.

Dumerc and Cathy Melain each had six assists.

"We played a very good game," said Bourges coach Pierre Vincent. 

"We were scoring very easy. I think Halcon Avenida had a lot of pressure on them in their first EuroLeague game. I think they are a good team."