Dynamo Kursk Survive In Greek Drama

Athinaikos threw a major scare into Dynamo Kursk in the EuroCup Women Quarter-Finals on Thursday night but came up just short of overturning a 25-point first-leg deficit.

Athinaikos won 89-69, but Kursk will now meet Galatasaray in the last four.

With just under a minute to play, the Greek outfit was on the verge of pulling off a monumental triumph after taking an 88-64 lead following two Vassiliki Daskalopoulou free-throws.

Kursk's Nikita Shamika Bell then turned the ball over, giving Athinaikos a chance to go in front by 26 in the game and one point on aggregate.

They spurned the opportunity, though, when Nikole Soulis had her pass intercepted by the Russian outfit's Sandra Valuzyte.

Athinaikos fouled the Lithuania international Valuzyte and she made both shots from the line to cut the deficit to 87-66.

Dynamo then put Latoya Davis on the line with 18 seconds remaining but the American only made one of two.

Athinaikos answered by putting Bell on the charity stripe and she only managed to split two but did grab the offensive rebound.

The home side fouled her teammate Valuzyte again and she made one of two to reduce the arrears to 20.

Each side made one more free throw, meaning Athinaikos fell five points short of pulling level in the tie.

For the Greek outfit, Davis finished with 26 points and eight rebounds and Vasileia Gkouzini scored 21.

Irena Vizbariene scored 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in defeat.