EuroLeague Women Third-Place Game preview: ZVVZ USK Prague v UMMC Ekaterinburg
EKATERINBURG (EuroLeague Women Final Four) - We take a look at the EuroLeague Women Third-Place Game as ZVVZ USK Prague and UMMC Ekaterinburg try to sign off their respective campaigns on a positive note after disappointment in the Semi-Finals.
It will be particularly tough for Prague to pick themselves up off the floor in the wake of their heart-breaking overtime defeat to Dynamo Kursk. They literally came within a second of making the Final during regulation time.
As for UMMC, they will need to get over another huge disappointment on home soil which has an element of déjà vu from 2014, when they lost to a Turkish side in the Semi-Finals and relinquished the title they had won a year earlier.
With a huge Russian Championship series to come against Kursk in the coming weeks, they must get rid of the bitter taste which flows from the 70-61 Semi-Final reverse against Fenerbahce.
U-N-S-T-O-P-P-A-B-L-E❗️ @CandiceDupree_4 has 33pts and 11rbs and the game is not even over yet! #EuroLeagueWomen pic.twitter.com/eq6GFCtGJ7
— EuroLeague Women (@EuroLeagueWomen) April 14, 2017
Key Match-Up: Candice Dupree was on absolute fire during the Semi-Finals and unfortunate not to be on the winning side after dropping a dazzling 39-point haul. She will need to be contained by UMMC and that responsibility is likely to fall onto a combination of Emma Meesseman and Sancho Lyttle.
Three Points:
- This will be the last-ever game in EuroLeague Women for ZVVZ USK Prague point guard Laia Palau, who has more assists in the history of the competition than any other player and hit the 1,000 mark during the Regular Season.
Laia Palau, the queen of assists! #EuroLeagueWomen @zvvzuskprague pic.twitter.com/zO5oe5CUQG
— EuroLeague Women (@EuroLeagueWomen) April 14, 2017
- UMMC Ekaterinburg are used to finishing in third place more than any other club, having taken this spot on seven previous occasions.
- ZVVZ USK Prague have never finished third as they won the title in 2015 and then had to settle for fourth place last year at the Final Four in Istanbul.
What They Say:
"We are disappointed because we did not finish the game [against Kursk] and we could have been in the Final. We are sad and angry and it will be hard to recover from it. But, we are proud of the way that we have been fighting and playing," ZVVZ USK Prague guard, Marta Xargay.
"It is a long season and for the most part we took EuroLeague Women in our stride and at other times our weaknesses really came out. Everyone is really disappointed now and will hurt for a while, but we have to come back for Sunday against another really good team," UMMC shooting guard, Diana Taurasi.
You can watch The Final Four live on www.livebasketball.tv
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