Fenerbahce Too Good For Avenida

Angel McCoughtry seemed unstoppable at times for Fenerbahce and finished with 28 points

Fenerbahce won a battle of EuroLeague Women unbeatens on Wednesday night at Perfumerias Avenida in Spain.

With Fener outscoring the defending champions 25-15 in the third quarter and Angel McCoughtry pouring in 28 points in the game, the Turkish giants won 77-69.

Fenerbahce improved to 6-0 in Group B while Avenida slumped to 5-1.

All was going according to plan for Lucas Mondelo's side when Isa Sanchez hit a jump shot midway through the third quarter for a 49-44 Avenida lead.

Penny Taylor took her points haul to 10 when she answered with two straight jumpers for Fener.

The run continued as Ivana Matovic hit two free-throws and Nevriye Yilmaz scored five straight points for a 55-49 Fener lead.

Angel McCoughtry's jumper on a fast-break stretched the advantage to 59-49 and gave the American 22 points.

Avenida maintained their focus and Dewanna Bonner's jumper took her points haul to a team-high 24 while reducing the visitors' advantage to 73-69 with 24 seconds to go.

Avenida had to foul, though, and Taylor made two free-throws before Zane Tamane finished the scoring with a jumper for the Turkish team.

Quotes Perfumerias Avenida vs Fenerbahce

Fenerbahce head coach George Dikeoulakos:
"This is the first time I had the chance to play here and I have to congratulate Avenida for the little miracle they accomplished here with their winning streak. Miracles don't usually happen in basketball, behind them there is a lot of work from the players, the coaches and the club. Today we had the extra motivation of terminating their winning run on their own court. To do so, we've been alternating defenses during the whole game and everything worked fine except for defensive rebounding until the half time. In the second half we managed to control rebounding and the personality of my players to manage the environment."

Fenerbahce forward Angel McCoughtry:
"We knew it was going to be hard tonight. This is the hardest place I've ever played in but we played a good game and it was a good challenge for us. They're a good team and the reigning champion. Now everybody wants to beat the champion and that's a burden they have to take".

Salamanca head coach Lucas Mondelo:
"Someday this streak had to come to an end. Fener gambled by letting us shoot from outside and we fell for that, we shot too much from outside. We stopped playing as a team and you can't let yourself go against this kind of teams. The team made a great effort but lost focus in the 3rd quarter and rotations didn't work as usual."

Salamanca guard Isabel Sanchez:
"We lost focus especially on deffense, and they scored easy baskets on transition. The moment they went up by 8 points, with their confidence, it was hard for us to come back. We didn't play our basketball."