Jana Vesela of Gambrinus Sika Brno played a key role in her team's impressive 62-59 victory at Bourges last night in the opening game of the teams’ best-of-three quarter-finals.

Vesela, a 1.94m forward, finished with a team-high 17 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

Her performance was certainly appreciated by Gambrinus head coach Jan Bobrovsky.

"Vesela played a good game today," he said. "She led the team for nearly the entire 40 minutes and she was our best player for sure."

Vesela was one of the stars Bobrovsky coached last summer on the Czech Republic's gold medal winning side at the EuroBasket Women in Turkey.

She is vital for a Gambrinus team which is attempting to get to the final for a second straight year.

Despite the victory, Bobrovsky has warned his players not to relax.

Game 2 is set for Friday in Brno, and Bobrovsky said: "We are not in the semi-finals yet despite our win in France."

The Czech giants secured their first victory of the quarter-finals after Laia Palau missed a potential game-tying three-pointer for Bourges in the final seconds.