EKATERINBURG (EuroLeague Women) - Fenerbahce's Diana Taurasi loves the big occasion and that's what the Team USA star had on Wednesday night when she travelled back to Russia to take on old foe UMMC Ekaterinburg in the EuroLeague Women.
Taurasi, who spent the previous four seasons in Russia playing for Ekaterinburg's rivals Sparta&K Moscow Region, connected on five of 10 shots from long range and poured in 23 points as Fener won 73-67.
It was Birsel Vardarli of Turkey who took over in crunch time, though.
With the game knotted at 63-63 with less than four minutes remaining, Vardarli hit back-to-back three-balls to put Fener on their way to a fifth consecutive victory.
The Turkish giants also got an outstanding game from Penny Taylor of Australia.
A former star at UMMC, Taylor had 13 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Turkey center Nevriye Yilmaz added 14 points and five rebounds.
UMMC got 17 points from Crystal Langhorne.
Sparta&K M.R. Vidnoje also clinched an important win, handing Halcon Avenida their first defeat of the season in any competition.
Sancho Lyttle had 12 points and 15 rebounds from the performance by the Spain international wasn't enough for Avenida, who got 15 points and seven boards from Russia international Ira Osipova.
In Group A, TTT Riga got their first win of the season, upsetting USO Mondeville 55-50 in Latvia.
Wisla Can-Pack Krakow also won at home over Good Angels Kosice, 66-61.
Kosice, Wisla and Mondeville are each 3-1 in the pool.
Fener lead Group B ahead of UMMC (4-1) and MKB Euroleasing Sopron (3-2), who prevailed 82-68 at home over Gospic Croatia.
Amber Holt finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Sopron in their triumph.
In Group C, ZVVZ USK Prague rolled to their third win in five games, beating Galatasaray 84-56.
They trail Avenida (4-1) and Sparta&K (3-2) in the pool, while Gala (2-3) are level on points with Tarbes (2-3), who won at home over VICI Aistes (1-4).
Gorzow (2-3) clinched a 76-73 win at home over Nadezhda in Group D and leaders Ros Casares stayed unbeaten at 5-0 with an 82-74 victory over Frisco Sika Brno (1-4).
FIBA
