UMMC Ekaterinburg did not win the big prize at the EuroLeague Women Final Four with fellow Russians Spartak Moscow Region beating them in their semi-final, and then Gambrinus Brno in the title game.

But Ekaterinburg avoided leaving the event empty-handed after a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Caroline Aubert lifted them to a 70-69 triumph over Bourges.

Now the club is hoping to use that win in the third place game as a launch pad for success in the Superleague play-offs.

"It was a great ending to the game," Ekaterinburg forward Asjha Jones said to FIBA Europe.

"We wanted to win the game against Spartak, but we didn't. At least we didn't come in last, so we're fortunate to have that victory.

"We have to look at it as a spark. It's our last game before the play-offs. We're going to build on it, look at our mistakes, at the things we did well, and just build on it."

Hopes were high that Ekaterinburg would challenge Spartak on all fronts this season but such is the quality in the Moscow Region team that few teams will beat them to honours.

Spartak have the best one-two punch in Europe at the moment in Final Four MVP Lauren Jackson of Australia and Tina Thompson of the United States.

Thompson was, in fact, the MVP of last year's Final Four in Vidnoje.

They also have Thompson's fellow USA internationals Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, and Russia national team stars Tatiana Shchegoleva and Marina Karpunina.

The best moment of the Ekaterinburg campaign came when Laurent Buffard's team upset previously unbeaten CSKA Moscow in the quarter-finals of the EuroLeague Women.

Ekaterinburg swept the series 2-0.

"We've had a lot of ups and downs this season," Jones said. "We've had some success, but we also lost a couple of close games. Russia has a lot of good teams. Every game is tough for us."

In few teams across Europe, though, will you see international stars find it hard to get playing time, but that is the case at Ekaterinburg who are loaded with talent from all over the world.

At the Final Four, Russia's EuroBasket Women gold medal winners Natalia Vodopyanova and Oxana Rakhmatulina did not even get off the bench in the 78-68 defeat to Spartak, and the club's leading scorer Agnieszka Bibrzycka saw less than 10 minutes of action in the third-place game.

Jones played 24 minutes against Spartak on Friday and scored nine points but then logged only 14 minutes on Sunday against Bourges and finished with four points.

"If you are hot, you play," said Jones.

"If not, you cheer on your teammates. Any time you come to a team like this, you know you might not play even 20 minutes."