OLYW - Russia outlast Turkey in scrappy Quarter

LONDON (Olympics) - Russia held off Turkey 66-63 in a closely-contested and physical Quarter-Final to reach the Semi-Finals of the Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament for the third time in a row.

The Russians led by 12 early and had a 23-16 advantage by the end of the first period.

But the Turks, beset by nerves at the start, eventually shook those off to get within 34-28 at the break, setting the game up nicely for a closely-contested and physical second half.

Ceyhun Yildizoglu's charges gradually cut the deficit in the third quarter, getting within 42-39 on Esmeral Tuncluer's three-pointer midway through the period.

Anna Petrakova buried back-to-back three-pointers to give Russia a bit of breathing room at 49-44 but that was short lived as Saziye Ivegin and Kuanitra Holingsvorth - who was scoreless in the first half - combined to lead a 7-2 spurt to tie the score at 51 by the end of the period.

By this stage, Turkey were double-teaming Russia point guard Becky Hammon time and time again, forcing the opponents to beat them without the ball in her hands.

Holingsvorth hit a free-throw as the Turks went up 54-51. Later, Hammon got free long enough to bury a three that put Russia back in front 56-54.

The teams traded blows and Birsel Vardarli tied the score at 62 on a lay-up with 28.2 seconds remaining.

With the game on the line, Russia turned to Hammon who drove to the basket and hit a left-handed lay-up while drawing a foul on Yilmaz.

She missed the free-throw though and in the ensuing scramble for the rebound, Natalya Vieru fouled Holingsvorth, sending her to the foul line. The centre missed the first and made the second for a 64-63 score.

Turkey had to stop the clock and fouled Irina Isopova who hit the first from the charity stripe. She missed the second but Russia got the ball back and Evgeniya Belyakova made one of two to seal the deal.

Afterwards, Hammon - who had 19 points and five assists - talked about coming out on top of a very intense game.

"We hung in there and we stuck it out. They're physical so we had to fight through that," she said.

"In the second half it was just a battle.

"They started double-teaming me late in the first half but we really hurt them when they did that in the second half because we got a rotation over the ball came and then we went right down on the block and got a couple of easy buckets. So we attacked that pretty well and didn't get many turnovers out of it."

Turkey coach Yildizoglu pointed at Russia's experience and ability to capitalise on their errors as keys to the win.

"We didn't start the game the way we wanted which is not what you want against Russia, who are very experienced team, who have been here many times," he said.

"We got back in the game and starting in the second part of the second quarter we played the way we wanted to.

"In the closing stages of the game, we made some mistakes and Russia knew how to use that against us."

FIBA