Cras Basket Taranto had UMMC Ekaterinburg on the ropes but went ice cold over the last 5:42 of the game and slumped to a 79-72 defeat.

UMMC, one of the favorites to reach the Final Four, trailed 70-66 after two Meghan Mahoney free-throws for Taranto.

Agnieszka Bibrzycka hit a jump shot to close the gap to 70-68 with 4:00 to play and not long after, France's EuroBasket gold-medal winning center Sandrine Gruda knotted the contest at 70-70.

Megan Mahoney had 17 points for Cras Basket Taranto

Gruda then caught a pass from Svetlana Abrosimova and hit another jumper with 2:09 to go to take her points haul to 16 and put UMMC in front.

Gruda was fouled on the play but missed the free-throw.

After Jami Montagnino was off target with a potential go-ahead three-pointer, Maria Stepanova missed two lay-ups but got the offensive rebound each time.

She finally scored with a three-point play to put UMMC on top, 73-70.

Ilisaine David buried a jumper for Cras to give the home side hope, but Bibrzycka hit two free-throws and Deanna Nolan added a lay-up for the final points of the game.

Mahoney finished with 17 points, Montagnino 16, Rebekkah Brunson 14 and Kathy Wambe 13 for Cras.

UMMC's Poland international Bibrzycka led all scorers with 20 points.

The Russian team did a lot of their damage at the free-throw line, making 23 of 28.

UMMC improved to 2-0 in Group A while Taranto slumped to 0-2.