ASVEL reach historic first Final; Galatasaray lie in wait despite loss

MUNICH (Germany) - LDLC ASVEL Feminin are looking forward to a first ever EuroCup Women Final after booking their ticket along with Galatasaray Cagdas Factoring to this year's title matchup.

With a modest four-point lead from the first leg meeting at home to Villeneuve d'Ascq, they finished the job on the road with an exciting 71-69 victory against their French rivals.

In an outstanding advert for the competition, it was an epic roller-coaster, with the outcome not determined until the last seconds and both teams enjoying impressive runs as the pendulum swung both ways. 

However, the determining factors proved to be a season-high 23 points from veteran Sandrine Gruda, some incredible shots and play from Marine Johannes who landed 17 points and a superb three-point shooting effort which saw ASVEL make 10 triples.

Meanwhile, Galatasaray were beaten 69-60 at Umana Reyer Venezia but were still able to celebrate advancing courtesy of their massive 25-point first leg win in Istanbul last week which put them through 134-118 on aggregate. 

Reyer relied on their defense in the first-half to at least give them a shot at somehow overturning the massive deficit, restricting the visitors to just 23 points by the break.

However, they couldn't stop the immense presence of Galatasaray standout Teaira McCowan. It was the work of the center that mainly kept the Turkish team on course for a third Final, eventually finishing with a super double-double of 17 points and 18 rebounds.

Hitting Galatasaray in transition with 16 fast break points, the hosts did their best to keep the tempo high, also prospering from 15 points, 9 boards and 4 assists from Jessica Shepard, but the damage had been done in the first game and proved irreparable.

FIBA