So far, so good for UMMC Ekaterinburg after they beat Jolly JBS Sibenik of Croatia 78-63 on Wednesday for their third win in as many games in the EuroLeague Women.
Looking to step out of the giant shadow cast by CSKA Moscow and Spartak Moscow Region
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Sandrine Gruda had 10 points to keep UMMC Ekaterinburg perfect in EuroLeague Women play.
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in Russia, Ekaterinburg look well on their way to accomplishing that mission.
In their latest victory, Asjha Jones had a team-high 18 points but Laurent Buffard's unit had a balanced scoring attack.
Agnieszka Bibrzycka scored 13, Deanna Nolan weighed in with 12 and Sandrine Gruda 10.
Ekaterinburg got their noses in front early, but Jolly JBS Sibenik put forth a determined display and refused to let them pull away.
With just under six minutes remaining in the first half, Ekaterinburg only led 30-27.
That is when Buffard's team went on an 8-0 run that put them comfortably ahead for the remainder of the game.
American Nolan and Russian national team point guard Oxana Rakhmatulina hit back-to-back jump shots for a 34-27 advantage.
And after Nolan went up and tapped in a miss, she fed Jones who struck with another jumper for a 38-27 advantage with 3:24 to go in the first half.
The lead grew to 16 early in the fourth quarter, but Jolly did a good job in limiting the damage and in the end, and lost only by 15.
Tihana Juric had 22 points and seven rebounds in a losing effort for Jolly JBS Sibenik, who slipped to 1-2 on the campaign.
Ekaterinburg won the battle of the boards 40-32, and they forced Sibenik into 17 turnovers while committing just 10 themselves.
The Croatian team did have a better game shooting the ball inside the arc, making 20 of 34 (58.8%) to just 42.1% for Ekaterinburg, but the home side took nearly twice as many shots (27 of 64).