UMMC Blitz Kosice In Fourth To Advance

Deanna Nolan inspired UMMC Ekaterinburg with good defense and 19 points

UMMC Ekaterinburg trailed early but won decisively at Good Angels Kosice to sweep the Round 2 series and reach the Final Eight.

The Russian outfit, 61-55 winners in the opener earlier this week, pulled away in the second meeting for a 75-49 triumph.

In winning, UMMC Ekaterinburg became the first team to join hosts Galatasaray in the Final Eight, which is to be staged in Istanbul at the end of March and beginning of April.

Danielle McCray scored five of Kosice's first 10 points as the Slovakians opened up an eight-point advantage.

Sue Bird, whose career-high 23 points led UMMC to victory in the first game, answered with a lay-up and a jumper before Sandra Linkeviciene cut the deficit to one with a three-pointer.

McCray drove in for a lay-up to keep Kosice's noses in front but UMMC knotted the contest at 14-14 after a Candace Parker three-point play.

Hana Horakova, who spent a couple of weeks playing for Kosice before returning to UMMC when the teams were drawn against each other in this play-off series, buried a three-pointer for the visitors and Ekaterinburg had the lead for good.

Kosice only faced a 26-21 deficit after an Erin Lawless three-pointer, but Sandrine Gruda and Bird hit jumpers to stretch the lead to 30-21.

UMMC went on to outscore Good Angels 24-13 in the quarter to claim a 43-29 half-time lead.

Kosice stayed within striking distance and went to the fourth quarter trailing 51-39.

A lay-up at the start of the fourth by Miljana Bojovic made it 51-41 but Deanna Nolan and Olga Arteshina replied with baskets.

UMMC then outscored Kosice 24-10 in the last period.

Nolan's 19 points and Bird's 16 led UMMC, with Parker and Gruda contributing 10 apiece.

Quotes Good Angels vs. UMMC Ekaterinburg

Ekaterinburg head coach Algirdas Paulauskas
"I was not satisfied with the first game, because we played a bad match. We realized the power of Kosice, but in the second battle, we demonstrated a significantly better performance. Although we missed home, but we have time to emerge and brought the match to the winning end."

Good Angels head coach Stefan Svitek
"We knew that it will be a tough match, but we started it off well. But gradually UMMC took over the initiative, among which four players scored double-digit points. The outcome decided and performances in defense."

Ekaterinburg player Hana Horakova
"I am happy that we won and I especially enjoyed the fact that we finally played a game that everybody expect from us. Certainly there is still room for improvement in our performance, but tonight we actually played very aggressively."

Good Angels player Danielle McCray
"We are very sad and disappointed. We played against a very strong team. We could not repeat our play in defense from first game and therefore now we can only watch the Final Eight matches on TV."