Avenida Claim Important Win at Wisla

Sometimes it better to be lucky than good but on Wednesday night at Wisla Krakow in Poland, Halcon Avenida were both.

Riding a wave of confidence after three straight wins in the EuroLeague Women, including a victory over previously unbeaten Bourges last week, Avenida arrived in Krakow and discovered they would not face a team at full strength with leading scorer Chamique Holdsclaw not in the Polish outfit's line-up.

The Salamanca club took advantage by winning a close game 77-67.

The American duo of Le'Coe Willingham and Donnette Snow poured in a combined 40 points - more than half of the Spanish club's output.

The game wasn't decided until the final minutes.

Dominique Canty's two free throws for Wisla left the home side trailing 71-67 with 3:25 remaining.

They had a chance to close the gap even further when Snow turned the ball over for the sixth time in the game, but Jelena Skerovic missed a three-pointer and after Wisla grabbed the offensive board, Ewelina Kobryn was off target with a jump shot.

Anke De Mondt then missed for Avenida, but on Wisla's next possession Willingham swatted a shot from Skerovic.

Avenida scored the last five points of the game for the their fourth triumph in five contests.

Wisla had begun the game well, jumping out to an 18-8 lead but Avenida went on a 10-0 run to level the game.

Willingham scored all 10 of those points for the visitors, including a three-point play and a three-pointer.

Wisla kept their noses in front until Snow scored four straight to tie the game at 39-39 at half-time. She continued her 6-0 run with the first basket of the second half to give the Salamanca club a 41-39 advantage.

The game remained tight, though Avenida led most of the time until 5:32 remained in the fourth quarter when Kobryn buried a jumper for a 65-64 Wisla lead.

Spain international Silvia Dominguez connected with a jumper to put Avenida back in front. Her basket started a 7-0 spurt and the led the rest of the way.

Snow dominated with 24 points and 13 rebounds although she did turn the ball over seven times.

Willingham scored 16 and had nine boards.

Dominguez had seven assists to go with her five points.

De Mondt, whose game winning three-pointer against Nadezhda on October 22 started the four-game winning streak, walked off the court with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Wisla weren't able to win, despite forcing Avenida to commit 21 turnovers compared to just 10 for themselves.

Kobryn had 22 points but it wasn't nearly enough as the Polish club dropped to 3-2.

Quotes Wisla Can-Pack vs Halcon Avenida

Wojciech Downar-Zapolski, Wisla Can-Pack (Head Coach):

"We had to play without our leader Chamique Holdsclaw. The begining was very good and we scored easy points. In the second half my team had a lot of problems. 2-15 in 3-points and 15 missed shots. - That is the reason why we lost. We will try to win in Salamanca in December."

Jose I. Hernández, Halcon Avenida (Head Coach):

"I am very happy. It was a very difficult game. Of course it was also very important that there was no Chamique Holdsclaw on the court."