Riga Beat USOM To Register First Season Win

TTT Riga went some way to repairing the damage of some heavy losses during the first four weeks of EuroLeague Women action by finally chalking up a first victory of the new campaign with a hard fought 55-50 home win against USO Mondeville.

It was made even sweeter with the fact that they had to do it the hard way after falling ten points behind inside the first four minutes as a score by former TTT Riga player Aija Brumermane put the visitors 12-2 in front.

After rattling off 12 points in double quick time from the tip-off, USO Mondeville certainly found scoring a real problem for the next 36 minutes.

Within four minutes of the second quarter, TTT Riga were in the ascendancy and a score by Shavonte Zellous put them to within one point at 21-20.

Minutes later the same player then levelled the scores at 29-29 on the fast break before Dita Krumberga finally put the home team ahead from the line.

While USO Mondeville swing the momentum back their way ahead of half-time to lead 33-30.

The home team started off the second half with a jump shot by Kim Butler and that set the tone as TTT Riga opened up with 8 unanswered points to move in front but heading into the last quarter the game was locked at 42-42.

Defence was always going to be important and the home team held their French opponents scoreless for over six minutes which proved vital as they kept their composure to see out a memorable success.

Shavonte Zellous had 21 points and 4 assists while Quanitra Hollingsworth had a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Brumermane finished with 14 points against her former team.

Quotes TTT Riga vs. USO Mondeville

USO Mondeville Player Aija Brumermane:
"We started the game well, played aggressive for 15 minutes, played well in defense. Afterwards we didn`t managed to secure our basket, they rebounded well. In the following quarters they played more aggressive, were better motivated and fought to win."

USO Mondeville Head Coach Hervé Coudray:
"I want to congratulate the coach of Riga. TTT played a really good game, the team was very tough in defense. They did a very good job concerning offensive rebounds in the first half and it was the key (for them) to stay in the game. We found some solutions in offense but because of offensive rebounding TTT stayed close to us. TTT played with the same level of intensity second, third and fourth quarter. That`s why they won this game. Shavonte Zellous and Quanitra Hollingsworth did a very good job. We had some difficulties guarding Shavonte especially in the first half."

TTT Riga Player Quanitra Hollingsworth:
"We came out tonight and played a full game unlike in other games. Despite our mistakes we played well in the paint. That`s part of the reason why we won. This is the starting point for us, something to build on. First victory should be a start of something great, hopefully."

TTT Head Coach Aigars Nerips:
"Mondeville played smart basketball today for 40 minutes. We experienced some difficulties with our shooting and they knew that we had problems playing against zone defense. Their zone defense stopped our offense. We felt more comfortable afterwards. We missed our starting point guard Kristine Karklina so our rotation was weaker than usual. The front court players played well and we didn`t lost so many points in the paint as before."