MiZo Pecs caused a stir when they upset then defending champions VBM-SGAU Volgaburmash in last year's EuroLeague Women group phase, and they had a chance to do the same on Thursday before falling to a 74-65 defeat.

Now called CSKA Volgaburmash, the Russian giants found themselves in a 28-16 hole 15 seconds into the second quarter of the Group B clash after Anna Vajda made her second three-pointer.

“Despite the victory, I’m very disappointed with our first quarter,” said CSKA head coach Igor Grudin.

		Dalma Ivanyi scored 19 points for MiZo Pecs.

“After, we managed to change our game.”

Grudin's team didn't panic, and closed to 28-26 after Ilona Korstin converted a three-point play.

Ann Wauters' tap-in tied the contest at 34-34 with 3:16 to go in the half, and she put them into a 38-37 half-time advantage with another.

Timea Ivkovicné Béres split two free throws to pull her side level at 38 38 one last time after the restart, but a Korstin three-ball began a 9-0 run that put CSKA in command for good.

Wauters, who finished with a game-high 24 points, had six in that crucial run.

Korstin scored 16 in the game, Maria Stepanova 13 and Amaya Valdemoro 12.

Stepanova also pulled down 11 rebounds as CSKA Volgaburmash won for the fourth straight time.

“It was very hard to play after such a long trip which we recently had,” said Olga Arteshina, who had four points and six rebounds in 25 minutes of play.

“During this week we were in Spain, Moscow, played the Cup of Russia in Vologda. That’s why it was hard to get used to Samara time. I know that this night many players managed to fall asleep only in early hours. I think in some way it influenced our game today."

MiZo Pecs got 19 points and five assists from Dalma Ivanyi.

The Hungarian side dropped to 2-2 in the EuroLeague Women.

“I can’t even remember when we couldn’t score at least one point like it happened in the second quarter of this game,” said Pecs head coach Laslo Ratgeber.

“The CSKA victory was a deserved one. We couldn’t hope to win playing this way today.”