Russia hold off a late Turkish charge to clinch a 66-63 victory in the quarterfinal clash – Olympics Women Basketball Recap
The Russian women basketball team qualified for the semi finals of the London Olympics by defeating Turkey in a closely fought game that went down to the last minute.
The Russian side narrowly escaped with a 66-63 victory, after Turkey had an opportunity to take the game in the final seconds of the fourth period. Becky Hammon led the Russian scoring with 19 points and 5 assists for the night.
Nevriye Yilmaz led a valiant effort by Turkey with a game high 22 points, but her team was unable to close the game in the final minutes.
Russia started the game well to take an early 7-3 lead, but Turkey came back instantly with an 8-0 run to take an 11-7 lead. Hammon tied the game at 13 with a two point shot, and then scored a three pointer to put Russia up by
three points. Evgeniya Belyakova followed that with another three pointer and Natalya Vieru scored a two point shot to cap off a 10-0 run by the Russians and take a 21-13 lead. Russia led 23-16 at the end of the first period.
Hammon started the second period with another 5 straight points as Russia raced to a 28-16 lead. However, Turkey were not in the mood of letting Russia run away to a comfortable margin, and a three point shot by Tugba Palazoglu
cut the deficit to 24-30. The Turkish side held on from there to trail Russia 28-34 at halftime.
Two free throws by Hammon had Russia ahead by 8 points with 5:51 left in the third period, but Turkey scored 5 straight points to cut the deficit to 3, and a three pointer by Birsal Vardarli with 3:21 left in the period had Turkey
trailing 42-43. Back to back three pointers by Anna Petrakova ensured that the Russians held on to the lead, but four straight points by Kuanitra Holingsvorth inside the final minute tied the game at 51.
A two point shot by Yilmaz early in the final period gave Turkey a 54-51 lead, but Hammon gave the lead back to the Russians with a three pointer. Esmeral Tuncluer tied the game at 60 with two free throws, but Irona Korstin immediately
replied with a two point shot and Russia led again by two points. With the game evenly pitched, both teams failed to score any point for the next two and a half minutes, and Turkey broke the drought with a two point shot by Vardarli to tie the game at 62 with
28 seconds left in play.
Hammon instantly scored a two point shot and Russia got their lucky break when Holingsvorth missed one of two free throws with 13 seconds left and Turkey trailed 63-64. Osipova then scored on one of two free throws to put Russia
ahead 65-63, but Turkey failed to make anything happen and Russia eventually won 66-63.
Both teams remained neck to neck throughout the game, but Turkey’s inability to connect on the final few plays gave Russia an opportunity to run away with the game. Becky Hammon led the Russians with her amazing play, coming up
with big shots at crucial moments. Vardarli finished with 12 points, while Holingsvorth also added 12 to the team tally. Belyakova, Vieru and Petrakova all finished with 10 points for the Russian team. Russia will now face either France or Czech Republic in
the semi finals of the tournament.
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