UMMC Beat Ros Casares To Go Top

UMMC Ekaterinburg have moved above Ros Casares at the top of Group A of the EuroLeague Women thanks to an 82-70 win over their rivals.

After a close start to the game, Ekaterinburg began to pull away midway through the second quarter as Celine Dumerc's jump-shot put them up 34-31 and started a 12-4 run that gave the hosts a double-digit lead by the time Cappie Pondexter hit a jump-shot to open the third quarter.

Ros Casares would slice the lead to four, 46-42, on a three-pointer from Belinda Snell, but Ekaterinburg responded with a 13-0 run, capped by Deanna Nolan's three-pointer that made it 59-42.

The lead would later bulge to 20 when Ashja Jones' jump-shot with 3:53 to go made it 79-59.

The visitors finished much the stronger, but had left themselves too much to do.

Agnieszka Bibrzycka and Pondexter led Ekaterinburg with 16 points each, while Nolan and Sandrine Gruda both finished with 12 and Ann Wauters made 10.

Elisa Aguilar and DeLisha Milton finished with 12 each for Ros Casares, while Snell had 11 and Erika De Souza 10.

Quotes UMMC Ekaterinburg vs. Ros Casares

Ros Casares head coach Isma Canto:
In the first ten minutes the teams were playing shoulder to shoulder, and we led for a while, but in the second quarter our players made a lot of turnovers, and allowed UMMC to go ahead. The struggle was fierce in the third quarter, some of our turnovers and important baskets of UMMC predetermined the outcome of the match.

UMMC center Ann Wauters:
I'd like to say, that it's a good revenge for our club. We found good chemistry in defense, and now we are beginning to show good team work. I want to thank our fans for their warm support.

UMMC head coach Gundars Vetra:
We've won against a very good team tonight, who defeated us in Spain, so we needed a revenge for our team's standings and for our confidence, and have taken it. Good work has been done, now we are to play in Moscow, and we'll try to do it worthily.