BC Moscow Made To Work By Chevakata

BC Moscow had to grind but they finally put paid to Chevakata in the fourth quarter on Thursday and won 68-58 to advance to the semi-finals of the EuroCup Women.

Playing at home, Moscow clinched a 12-point victory on aggregate.

Ekaterina Savelyeva had a season-high 19 points and six rebounds to lead Moscow, while Monique Curry scored 15 and handed out eight assists and grabbed seven boards.

Plenette Pierson led a solid Moscow defensive effort as she had five steals to go with her 14 points and six rebounds.

After winning the opening leg by two points in the all-Russian tie, Alexander Vasin's team returned home to the Russian capital and reeled off the first seven points of the game.

They led by as many as 15 in the first half and were still on top 37-26 with 6:14 to go in the third quarter after a lay-up by Pierson.

Chevakata were then sparked into life by a three-ball from Anastasia Pimenova.

Tatiana Bokareva and Loree Moore followed with two free throws each and Viktoryia Hasper added a jump shot to cap the 9-0 spurt and close the gap to 37-35 with less than three minutes to go in the third period.

Currie ended a scoring drought which had lasted almost six minutes for Moscow when splitting a pair of free throws with 1:30 to go in the quarter, only for Chevakata to get even closer after Elena Kharchenko drilled a pair from the stripe to make it a one-point game, and leave the visitors behind by just three points on aggregate.

Elena Danilochkina converted two opportunities at the line and sank a jumper right before the buzzer sounded to end the frame, however, Chevakata replied with a Lyudmila Sapova three-pointer with 8:51 to go in the contest to trail 42-40.

That was as close as they would be for the remainder of the game.

The game stayed close until Savelyeva poured in eight of her game high points haul in the last 4:23 to spirit BC Moscow to a 10-point victory.

With her team leading 52-49, Savelyeva poured in six consecutive points to kill off the game with 2:33 to go.

Chevakata finished just 13 of 47 (27.6%) inside the arc but they did make all 17 of their free throws to keep the game close.

Elena Volkova had 18 points in defeat.

Quotes BC Moscow vs. Chevakata

Boris Sokolovskiy, coach Chevakata:

"I congratulate BC Moscow for reaching the semi-final and wish them to win the Cup for Russia. Today they were the better team in all components of the game. We failed in the beginning, and in a game like this the experienced Moscow players were good at keeping their advantage, unlike my team in the first game."

Alexander Vasin, coach BC Moscow:

"From the very first minute of the game we played so that our opponent could not stop us. Our 7-0 getaway and confident play in the first quarter, when we scored 21 points and allowed only 9, set the tone for the entire match. Today I asked the players to allow not more than 60 points in the game, or 15 points per quarter. We succeeded".