In a thrilling fourth quarter, the North-West Amateur Basketball League out-dueled Svaja 57-55 to claim the top spot in the W35/40 ahead the final day of the round robin stage on Wednesday.
The game was tied at 45-all going into the final frame, but the Russian side scored the first eight points of the period to break away to a 53-45 advantage. The Lithuanians did not give up and battled back to get within two points, but missed a chance to tie the game with their last possession.
Anzhelika Boikova had a game-high 20 points, Zola Tutueva scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists. Zenfira Rogutina collected 13 points.
For Svaja, Ingrida Jonkute scored 12 points, with Inga Jokubaitiene and Loreta Stanciauskiene adding 11 and 10 respectively.
Saint Petersburg bounced back from Sunday’s loss by claiming their first win after topping the hosts Liepaja 62-53. The Russian team built the winning advantage at the beginning of the second period, when they went on a 10-2 run to pull away to a 31-19 lead.
The Latvians had got as close as seven points (58-51) in the final frame, but Saint Petersburg held on to their advantage until the final buzzer, with any further difficulties.
Liudmila Kuzmina and Diana Bobrysheva led the winners in scoring with 18 points apiece, while three other players finished the game with seven points each.
For Liepaja, Ilze Dukate, who scored 15 points, was the only Liepaja player in double digits. Una Epnere and Baiba Sproge had 9 points each.
