Perfumerías Avenida beat Athinaikos 65-71 and will have a six-point lead for the second leg at the Würzburg Silvia Domínguez pavilion.
The charras jumped on the track with Iyana, Vilaró, Meyers, Arrojo and Cave. Athinaikos was a stormy start at 8-2, but Avenida maintained confidence in itself. Meyers, with a triple, reduced the gap and even Avenida took a point lead. Soriano’s intensity in defense and stealing made the charras close the first act with 17-18.
The first moments of the second quarter were positive for the Salamanca team with a 2+1 from Soriano, a triple from Kiss and the debut of Magarity. Athinaikos stopped the duel at 21-27… and that’s when Prince appeared. The American hammered the Salamanca ring to go from 21-27 to 32-31. The Greeks went into the break with a one-point lead after watching Iyana hit a long three-pointer at the buzzer (37-36).
The first five minutes after the break were an absolute exhibition on Iyana Martín’s court. The ’10’ ruled the court with her direction, her points (ten in that stretch) and her two assists to Cave (41-52). It was game time; maybe eliminatory. Montañana’s team went one step further and closed the event with a basket from Cave to go up sixteen points (47-63).
In the final quarter, Perfumerías Avenida entered the bonus very early. And the Greeks went with determination for the Salamanca hoop. Montañana had to stop the clash on two occasions and Avenida knew how to survive to score six points for the final duel (65-71).
