14 Eshaya Murphy (Samsun Basketball) – Samsun Basketball v Chevakata, 2017 EuroCup Women, Samsun – Mustafa Dagistanli Arena(Turkey), Qualifiers, 5 October 2016
The EuroCup qualifiers started this week as sixteen teams fight for the last eight spots in the group stage. Each team will host one game with the scores being combined from both games to determine the winner. Either game can end in a tie and overtime will be played after the second game if the overall score is tied. The second game in each series will be played next week.
The first game on Wednesday was quite entertaining as each team had a player who tried to carry her team. In the end, it was Shay Murphy and Samsun who will take a narrow lead with them when they visit Russia after an 82-79 win over Emma Cannon and Chevakata in Turkey. Monique Oliver and Piestanke Cajky will feel good about their chances in the next game in Slovakia after making the road trip to Hungary and beating Dorina Zele and Pecs 74-64. Gdynia will carry a solid lead to Switzerland after a 74-64 win over Fribourg in Poland despite Jazmine Davis trying her best to keep the visitors in the matchup by scoring half of her team’s points.
The rest of the series started on Thursday with the battle of Turkish teams. YDUBGD showcased some immediate strength by dominating Istanbul University early for the 82-53 home win as Angel Robinson led the way. The game in Hungary was close for the first three quarters before hosts Cegled exploded in the final frame to beat Enisey 94-72 and head to Russia with a solid advantage. Nora Nagy-Bujdoso and Szidonia Katona teamed up and got a triple-double from Maja Skoric to offset a solid effort from Annalise Pickrel. Charleville heads back to France with the lead after going to Germany and beating Freiburg 71-64 as Kim Mestdagh bested her sister. Keltern had a solid start at home in Germany behind Jasmine Thomas as they will carry a 69-59 lead to the Czech Republic against KP Brno. It looks like the Amsterdam Angels, a combined team of young talents from the Netherlands will have a much shorter stay in the competition this time as they were jumped on early at home by Nantes in an 87-66 loss, giving them a big hill to climb in France. Shona Thorburn showed her young opponents a thing or two for the visitors.
October 5, 2016
Samsun vs. Chevakata 82-79 SAMSU Murphy 33/10r/7a/6s Mircheva 14 Sandric 13 Ivankovic 11 Babkina 7/7a CHEVA Cannon 35/15r Jones 13/8a
PEAC Pecs vs. Piestanke Cajky 64-74 PEAC Zele 20 Kuster 16 PIEST Oliver 25/10r Palenikova 16 Brown 12 Oroszova 10 Handy 5
Gdynia vs. Elfic Fribourg 74-64 GDYNI Jakubiak 16/7r Podgorna 14 Grigalauskyte 13/15r Morawiec 10/6r Skerovic 10/16a FRIBO Davis 32/7r Rol 13 Tarakchian 7/6r Doolittle 4/6r
October 6, 2016
YDUBGD vs. Istanbul Universitesi 82-53 YDUBG Robinson 20/10r Eldebrink 18/6a Caglar 13/6r Hollingsworth 11/9r Cakir 10/7a ISTUN Cado 16 White 10/6r/6a Hooper 8/6r Putnina 4
VBW CEKK Cegled vs. Enisey 94-72 CEGLE Nagy-Bujdoso 33/11r Katona 21 Skoric 14/12r/10a Schlemer 2 ENISE Pickrel 25/7r Langlois 13/10r/9a Korotygina 11
Eisvogel USC vs. Carolo 64-71 FREIB Ilmberger 13/6r H. Mestdagh 13 McCarthy 12 Vukoje 10 Leary 4/13r/6a Sabally 3 CAROL K. Mestdagh 25 Berezhynska 19/6r Mosqueda-Lewis 13 DeVaughn 0
Rutronik Stars Keltern vs. KP Brno 69-59 KELTE Thomas 21/12r Mayombo 12 Markovic 10 Davis 6/7r BRNO Moussa 18/6r Kopecka 12 Peckova 11 White 0
Amsterdam Angels vs. Nantes Reze 66-87 AMSTE Broring 14 L. Bettonvil 11/6r J. Bettonvil 10 De Jonge 6 NANTE Thorburn 23 Skuballa 13/9r Plouffe 12/10r Chaney 8