April 20, 2018
The semifinals were played in Sopron on Friday. The first game was the highly anticipated clash of Russian powerhouses. Neither team had their naturalized Russian guards as they fielded lineups that were not possible in their last domestic league clash. Ekaterinburg has looked like a different team since Maya Moore joined and she led the way in the 84-77 win Angel McCoughtry led Dynamo Kursk. After the games on Sunday, the two teams will now be prepared to do battle at least three more times, but with reduced lineups with stricter foreign player limitations in domestic league play. That set the stage for the hosts to take on Yakin Dogu University. They rode the energy of the home crowd early to build a lead, but the visitors fought back late in the third quarter, finally taking a lead in the fourth quarter only to see Sopron make the key plays down the stretch to take a 68-65 lead and hang on for the dramatic win. Sunday’s atmosphere also figures to be impressive even though the home team will be massive underdogs.
Dynamo Kursk vs. UMMC Ekaterinburg 77-84 KURS McCoughtry 26/6r Petrovic 18 Ogwumike 13/6r Vadeeva 4 Cruz 2 UMMC Moore 28/6r Meesseman 19/8r Griner 19/7r Toliver 15 Torrens 3/6r Belyakova 0 Sanders 0
Sopron vs. Yakin Dogu Universitesi 68-65 SOP Turner 19 Salvadores 16 Crvendakic 10/11r Fegyverneky 10 Milovanovic 9/6r Page 2 YDU Vandersloot 15/7r McBride 12 Hollingsworth 11 Lavender 10/10r Cakir 4 Gruda 3/8r
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