Inside Volley Board

Dynamo Kursk have the upper hand in their EuroCup Women Semi-Final with Chevakata after claiming a 71-62 win in Thursday's first leg.

Going on the road for the all-Russian affair, Kursk led 57-42 late in the third quarter but the hosts reeled off 13 unanswered points to close the gap to just two.

Inside the last five minutes, though, Dynamo Kursk once again took control with a 10-2 run and ultimately walked off the court with a nine-point first-leg advantage.

The second meeting is next week in Kursk.

The blowout looked to be on the cards when Ausra Bimbaite soared in for a lay-up with 1:37 remaining for Kursk to put the visitors in front at 57-42.

Olesia Malashenko answered with two free-throws to finish the third quarter for Chevakata and teammate Yuliya Kiseleva began the fourth with a jumper.

Chevakata shooting guard Svetlana Makhlina followed with a three-ball and the home side went on to score 13 points in a row.

Temeka Johnson stopped the rot with a jump shot for Dynamo and Kursk pulled away in the last four minutes for a solid first-leg advantage.

Anna Petrakova led Dynamo with 17 points while Johnson and Bimbaite had 13 apiece.

Michelle Snow was also terrific with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Kiseleva's 13 points were a team high for Chevakata, who have a lot of work to do next week in Kursk if they are going to reach the Final.

Kayseri Kaskispor will take a healthy 12-point advantage to Botas Sports Club next week for the second leg of the EuroCup Women Semi-Final tie after getting a mean one-two punch from Latoya Sanders and Nicole Sanford on Thursday.

Botas, despite getting 19 points and 22 rebounds from Courtney Paris, slumped to a 77-75 defeat in the Turkish showdown at Kayseri.

The 25-year-old power forward Latoya Sanders was dominant on both ends of the floor with 20 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks while 35-year-old center Sanford finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Botas had a dream start, leading 12-2 midway through the first quarter.

Paris had six points and Quianna Chaney four in that excellent beginning for the visitors.

Kayseri cut the deficit to 16-12 and then lowered the boom.

Donneka Hodges drilled a jumper and Bahar Ozturk buried a three-ball to ignite a 12-1 run that put the hosts in front to stay.

The lead grew to 54-38 midway through the second quarter after five straight points from Sanders and a lay-up from Sanford.

Botas dug in, however, and ended up outscoring the home side 19-17 in the third quarter with two Paris free-throws reducing the arrears to 60-50 with 10 minutes to go.

The visitors drew to within nine early in the fourth quarter but Kayseri edged the frame 17-15 for the 12-point win.

Dinamo Kursk won the 2012 EuroCup Women.

After the 14 points deficit in first match today They won with +23.

Kursk won ticket to the 2013 EuroLeague Women.

Dynamo Kursk pulled off an amazing comeback over two legs against Kayseri Kaskispor to win the EuroCup Women.

The Russian club lost the first meeting by 14 points in Turkey but returned home and rolled to a 75-52 victory on Thursday.

Michelle Snow turned in a dominating performance for Kursk, scoring 30 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

Lithuania international Ausra Bimbaite and Russian power forward Anna Petrakova also turned in huge performances for the winners.

Bimbaite had 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Petrakova finished with 16 points and eight boards.

Kursk, coached by Alfredas Vainauskas, out-rebounded Kayseri, 51-33.

The Russian team needed to get off to a good start to give themselves a shot of overturning the big first-leg deficit and they did, outscoring Kayseri 24-13 in the opening frame to reduce the deficit on aggregate to just three points.

Snow had eight points in the opening frame for the home side.

The hosts led 38-25 at half-time, leaving Kayseri with just a one-point advantage over the two legs.

Bimbaite's three-ball a few minutes after the restart gave Kursk a 29-15 second-leg lead and Snow followed with back-to-back jumpers to put them in front on aggregate by four points.

Latoya Sanders kept Kayseri's hopes alive.

Her consecutive jump shots reduced the arrears to 33-19, only for Snow to pop a shot from the arc to push the lead back to 15.

Sanders almost single-handedly kept the visitors in touch.

Her basket with 1:39 to go in the third quarter cut the Kursk lead to 36-25, but Kursk then reeled off six unanswered points and went in front on aggregate for good.

They ended up outscoring Kayseri 19-13 in the final frame for a convincing victory.

The frustration was evident for Kayseri, whose coach Ayhan Avci was slapped with a technical midway through the fourth quarter.

Snow went to the line and made three of four attempts.

Nakia Sandford has been one of Kayseri's leading players but she was held to just two points and three rebounds.

Sanders finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds but it wasn't enough.

Yeeee EuroCup stay in Russia !

In first Final Dinamo Moscow at home beat Kayseri 66-61.

In second match in Turkey Kayseri won 74-70 leading before last quarter 73-65.

One point difference.

Dynamo Moscow EuroCup Champion !

> http://www.fibatv.com/video/id/2173252/n…p_Women_2012_13