Hosts Grab First Win At Final 8

Turning Point: As Schio threatened late drama after getting to within five points inside the last sixty seconds, Diana Taurasi grabbed a precious rebound from her own missed shot which prevented a possible transition score.

Game Heroes: Bahar Caglar had her best game of the tournament with 17 points and seven rebounds while Isil Alben dished up eight assists.

Stats Don't Lie: Schio were awful from the perimeter in the first half shooting a miserable 1 of 9 while despite Galatsasary being without Tina Charles, they still got trashed 40-29 on the glass.

Galatasaray Medical Park bounced back from the double disappointment of an opening day loss to Rivas Ecopolis and derby defeat against Fenerbahce to record their first win at Final Eight with an 80-71 success against Beretta Famila Schio.

The hosts made their move during the opening quarter when after being tied at 6-6, they rattled off nine points in a row gave them some early impetus.

In the absence of Charles, Caglar stepped up and gave Galatasaray a double figure lead. Indeed she finished the period with double digits herself as her team went 26-14 ahead.

Schio couldn't find any kind of defensive intensity and it hurt them as successive triples by Egle Sulciute and Saziye Ivegin extended the damage to 16 points.

Finally the Italian side woke up from their slumber and managed to cut it to single digits just ahead of the interval but Galatasaray remained hot from downtown with another three-pointer, this time from Ticha Penicheiro handing them a 44-32 advantage at the break.

Schio competed much better when they returned to the court but they couldn't make any real inroads and still trailed 62-51 going into the last quarter.

Despite four quick-fire points to start the period for the Italian club it was Gala who found their range once again from outside and it looked like the game was done and dusted.

But, Schio had other ideas and from 72-59 behind, they posted a 12-4 run heading onto the final minute.

However it was too little too late and they remain winless while their evening was further soured by a potentially serious knee injury to Chiara Consolini.

Quotes Galatasaray MP vs. Beretta-Famila

"First of all we are very sorry for Consolini. We hope she gets well soon. Today especially our bench players played very good. We had plans for their scorers before the game and I think we successfully stopped them. We played together today, we fought and won. But maybe it is too late for us."

Galatasaray small forward Şaziye İvegin
"We wanted to play in the final at our home court. We really are sorry fort he losses. Today, we played well and won. That is all."

Beretta-Famila head coach Maurizio Lasi
"The real chance for us to do something and get something special came yesterday. Tonight, there were two frustrated teams on the court. My main concern is Chiara Consolini. It was tough for us. We did our best but we could do better if we had the right spirit."

Beretta-Famila shooting guard Maja Erkic
"First of all, congratulations to Galatasaray for the win. We started badly like the other games of the tournament. I really don't know the reason. If I knew, we wound not play like that. But I think the main thing is our defense. We are not aggressive enough. Sometimes we don't do what we are supposed to do and what our coach says. So when you are in trouble everybody wants to do something to get out of it and then the game looks like it looked tonight."

Quotes Galatasaray MP vs. Beretta-Famila

"First of all we are very sorry for Consolini. We hope she gets well soon. Today especially our bench players played very good. We had plans for their scorers before the game and I think we successfully stopped them. We played together today, we fought and won. But maybe it is too late for us."

Galatasaray small forward Şaziye İvegin
"We wanted to play in the final at our home court. We really are sorry fort he losses. Today, we played well and won. That is all."

Beretta-Famila head coach Maurizio Lasi
"The real chance for us to do something and get something special came yesterday. Tonight, there were two frustrated teams on the court. My main concern is Chiara Consolini. It was tough for us. We did our best but we could do better if we had the right spirit."

Beretta-Famila shooting guard Maja Erkic
"First of all, congratulations to Galatasaray for the win. We started badly like the other games of the tournament. I really don't know the reason. If I knew, we wound not play like that. But I think the main thing is our defense. We are not aggressive enough. Sometimes we don't do what we are supposed to do and what our coach says. So when you are in trouble everybody wants to do something to get out of it and then the game looks like it looked tonight."