BLMA Climb Out Of Early Hole To Stun Gospic

Gospic Croatia had the lead but suffered a fourth setback in a row at home to Basket Lattes Montpellier Agglomeration in the EuroLeague Women on Wednesday evening.

The hosts stormed into a 33-15 lead late in the first quarter but ended up crashing to a 96-82 defeat in Group C.

Stephany Skrba led the visitors from France with 24 points and eight rebounds.

If Gospic's inability to protect an 18-point advantage was bad, their capitulation in the fourth quarter was even worse.

Going into the frame knotted at 70-70, BLMA outscored the home side 26-12 the rest of the way.

For BLMA, who improved to 3-2 in Group C, Kristen Mann had 24 points, Edwige Lawson 17 and both Fatimatou Sacko and Ana Lelas 10.

Lelas, a Croatia international, was taking on many of her teammates in the national side.

Gospic lost despite hitting 15 of their 30 attempts from long range.

Kalisha Keane had 22 points, Jelena Ivezic 16 and Sandra Mandir 13 for the hosts.

Quotes Gospic CO vs. BLMA

BLMA Head Coach Valery Demory
"In the first quarter of the game we received a lot of 3-point shots and we were losing by a lot. Somehow, we lasted until half-time and then in the second half of the game we strengthened our defense and that's how we managed to get ahead of them. The 3-point shots stopped and we were much better in the paint and then eventually the game was on our side. The Gospic team physically weakened, but we continued to play well and scored a lot of baskets winning with a 14-point difference after losing up until the 25th minute of the game."

Gospić Croatia Osiguranje Head Coach Stipe Bralić
"We started the game very well. We played defense very well and we were hitting a lot of 3-pt shots. When we began changing players in the second quarter, we began to lose the rhythm of the game. Only because of our 3-pt shots did we have such a good result at the beginning. Afterwards, everyone could see that the opposing team was much stronger and had much more endurance. Of course, as the game was reaching an end we were quickly losing our strength and playing much worse. Even in this game we could see that Julie McBride could not keep up her strength, but unfortunately we don't have a replacement good enough for her. Our opponents deserved this win."

BLMA player Ana Lelas
"I wouldn't say that it was easy to win. It is always difficult to play in Gospic. I thought that Gospic would be better because I followed their stats in previous games. After the first quarter, the girls weakened in their way of playing. I was afraid that they would start shooting their 3-pt shots again, but they didn't. The 14-pointt win at the end does not show the reality of the game on the court. I am satisfied. We know what we are able to achieve."

Gospić Croatia Osiguranje player Kalisha Keane
"In the first half we played very well together, rotating the ball well and having great 3-point shots. The opponents were just physically stronger than us in the second half of the game. We just couldn't keep up the same pace in the game. Of course, all of this broke up the pace of the game we couldn't keep up with our guests who beat us by 14 points. It's hard to believe considering at one point the scores were tied."