NEU in basketball finals

NEAR East University (NEU) have secured a place in the quarter-finals of the women’s European basketball league after a convincing win at “home” on Wednesday.

They cruised to an 80-56 victory against Spanish side Perfumerias Avenida at the Caferağa Sports Hall, with Kayla McBride and Sandrine Gruda scoring 19 points apiece. Jantel Lavender added 15 points and 10 rebounds as NEU raced off to a 27-14 lead.

The TRNC team is barred from hosting their matches in North Cyprus and is officially registered as a Turkish club, after complaints by Greek Cypriot authorities to the sport’s governing body, Fiba.

Head coach Zafer Kalaycıoğlu said the team’s “overriding goal [is] to represent the Turkish Cypriot people in Europe proudly”.

The win was their ninth of the season in the EuroLeague Women tournament, taking them top of Group B on 20 points, ahead of rivals Fenerbahçe.

It came after a narrow defeat the previous week away to Russians UMMC Ekaterinberg, who dropped from group first to third place after losing 80-77 to Fenerbahçe.

NEU’s next EuroLeague Women fixture will take place on Wednesday, when they travel to the Polish city of Krakow for an encounter with CCC Polkowice.

NEU and Fenerbahçe are also in first and second place respectively in the Turkish Super League, with both sides on 25 points, although the former have scored more highly in their matches. NEU made it 12 wins out of 13 games so far when they beat Hatay BŞB 96-78 on Sunday, Courtney Vandersloot their top scorer with 23 points.