Dynamo Moscow Crowned Champions

Kursk, Mar 28, 2014: Turning Point: Jelena Milovanovic provided the assist for Shay Doron on a three-point play to put Dynamo Kursk in front 49-48 with 4:52 to play in the third. Milovanovic then picked up the next four points including a three, stirring a 27-7 run that had the Kursk faithful believing a miracle was on the horizon.

Stats Don’t Lie: 97-65. The score on the first leg of the tie which all but made this game a dead rubber, despite the admirable fight put up by Dynamo Kursk in front of a near-sold out home arena.

Game Hero: Milovanovic who completed her stat line with 18 points, three rebounds and two assists – with the majority of her contribution coming down the stretch.

Dynamo Moscow have won their second EuroCup Women title in as many years, despite losing 85-61 on the road on Thursday night in Kursk.

Dynamo Moscow appear to have a penchant for drama with their 2014 victory coming in no less dramatic circumstances than 12 months previous when they also ripped up the form book to defeatKayseri Kaski spor.

Signs of similar drama did not look likely early on as 10 first-quarter points from Ana Dabovic took Dynamo Moscow out to a 10-point, 25-15 lead by the end of the opening quarter as their hosts fought to find continuity.

Slowly Dynamo Kursk worked their way into the game in the second frame, bringing the gap back to two on a Seimone Augustus pair from the charity stripe, before having to settle for a four-point 36-40 deficit at the break.

Effectively leading the tie by 36 points when they returned to the court to play the second half, complacency became a major concern for Dynamo Moscow and Milovanovic took advantage, spearheading the unlikeliest of comebacks for Kursk.

When Augustus subbed into the game to complete a lay-up to make it 70-53 with 7:02 remaining on the night, the Kursk faithful were on their feet and beginning to believe that an upset was truly in the making.

It forced Dynamo Moscow head coach Vladimir Shtam to call a timeout which proved to work in his favour as Dabovic returned to the court to nail a three and halt Dynamo Kursk’s momentum, and ultimately confirm the overall victory for Dynamo Moscow, despite not winning on the night.

Dabovic ended with 15 points in defeat whilst Tina Charles recorded a game-high 24 points along with eight boards.

Milovanovic and Augustus each picked up 18 points for Kursk, whilst the latter also had nine rebounds. Doron chipped in with 16.

Dynamo Moscow Head Coach Vladimir Shtam

“I imagined before the game that it will be not easy to win but I could not imagine it would be that difficult. This is women’s basketball. They try to celebrate but they can’t do that and then after that they stop their celebrations and we were lucky Kursk did not score some three-pointers on open shots. If they scored, then probably we could have lost. But I am happy that we have won EuroCup Women for a second time in a row.”

Dynamo Moscow Player Ana Dabovic

“I am really happy. It is weird to lose by 24 points and celebrate. It is a really good thing to win the EuroCup two times in a row and it means the staff and the coach are working really well. Kursk played really good today and did not sleep from the beginning and it was hard, really hard to play against them because we only played with five or six players and they rotated all 12.”

Dynamo Kursk Head Coach Bo Overton

“We had talked for the last couple of days that we have a good enough team if we can get on a run and make some plays and get it to the fourth quarter then you never know. I think we did that tonight. I am really proud of the girls.”

Dynamo Kursk Player Natalia Vodopyanova

“Today we played hard and everybody did what the coach wanted but it was too many points that we lost by in Moscow. For the fans it did not work out but today I think they should be happy with how we played and gave back [to them].” —- FIBA Europe/Dynamo Kursk