Gameday 6 of EuroLeague Women action brought an impressive individual performance and two comebacks. Fenerbahçe and DVTK remain the only two unbeaten teams in the competition. But things will change next week as the two meet in Hungary on Wednesday.
Group A
Week after week, Fenerbahçe finds new ways to dominate the competition. But one thing that remains unchanged is the centrality of Belgian big Emma Meesseman to their success. Her range, vision and passing ability are unparalleled, and she showed just how versatile she is by reaching her first EuroLeague triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. The rivals were not particularly strong; Sepsi-SIC was at the bottom of Group A and will remain there after the 110-63 loss to the defending EuroLeague champs. Meesseman was in no way chasing the achievement, as she played only 19 minutes in the game.
The best contest of the day took place in Lyon, with Gabby Williams immediately making an impact in her first game back for the home team. Williams tallied five steals! Marine Johannès, ASVEL’s other returnee, still needs time to regain her footing; she finished with three points, three rebounds, four assists, four turnovers, two steals and a block. ASVEL managed to squeeze by with a one-point win over Lublin. ASVEL led by as many as 19 points in the first quarter, but then Shyla Heal and Elin Gustavsson got to work for Lublin. The young Australian point finished the game with 19 points, while the Swedish veteran scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed nine boards. Her 3 from the top of the key put her team up 72-71 with 15 seconds left in the game. But then Williams delivered the inside pass to Stefanie Dolson, who scored the final bucket of the game for ASVEL. She was fouled on the play, but missed her free throw. Lublin then fired a 3, but the shot, which missed, wouldn’t have counted anyways as the ball was released after the buzzer.
The other great comeback of the day was authored by Casademont Zaragoza, who were down by as many as 19 points in the first half before climbing back to beat Beretta Famila Schio, 56-51. The score shows just what kind of a game it was, with Zaragoza making exactly one third of their field goals while Schio made 24.7 percent. Only two players, one from each team, had more than 10 points in total. The best player of the game, Arella Guirantes, was on the losing end, despite beginning the game strong and finishing with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Fenerbahce Alagöz Holding 110, ACS Sepsi-SIC 63
DVTK HUN-Therm 67, Valencia Basket Club 56
LDLC ASVEL Féminin 73, Polski Cukier AZS UMCS Lublin 72
Casademont Zaragoza 56, Beretta Famila Schio 51
Group B
Cukurova Basketbol Mersin 75, Serco UNI Győr 63
Perfumerias Avenida 75, KGHM BC Polkowice 66
Villeneuve d’Ascq LM 74, Basket Landes 61
ZVVZ USK Praha 90, Virtus Segafredo Bologna 69