Visiting Beşiktaş Cola Turka Women’s Basketball edges past Panküp TED Kayseri College, 77-74, on Matchday 9 of the Turkish Beko Basketball League.

The visiting Lady Black and White got off to blistering start and jumped out to a 7-0 lead on consecutive points by Doron Hornbuckle and Harper. After going scoreless for nearly two minutes, the home team Panküp Kayseri managed to regroup; as Brown and Willis trimmed the deficit to 9-6 with a string of jumpers in the lane. Then Nilay Yiğit and Willis combined to score 7 points and gave the home side their first lead of the game at 13-11 with 5:33 remaining on the clock. Nevertheless, Hornbuckle drained a couple of buckets in arrow and fired Beşiktaş Cola Turka back on top, 15-13. After Naile and Nilay exchanged baskets, Panküp Kayseri went ahead 18-17 with 2:35 left. However—despite Nilay’s hot-hand—Harper and Naile would team up in the dying minutes to pour it on the home team and put the Black and White up, 21-20, going into second frame. In the opening quarter, Willis led Panküp TED Kayseri with 9 points, followed by Nilay who chipped in 7; on the other hand, Harper scored 8 points for Beşiktaş Cola Turka, while Naile and Hornbucle added 4 points each.  
Faced by a tightened up Panküp Kayseri defense, the lady Black and White went without a basket for the 3:12 of the second stanza; and the hot-shooting trio of Little, Nilay and Willis managed to put together an 8-0 run to give their team a 28-21 edge. Although, Hornbuckle ended Beşiktaş’s scoring drought with a three-pointer from left corner, the Black and White were still trailing, 28-24 midway through the quarter. After Nazlı Güler made a 3-point play, Willis drilled a tree from downtown to stretch the home team’s advantage to 34-24 with 3:10 left. Nonetheless, All-American trio of Hornbuckle, Harper and Doron kept the Beşiktaş Cola Turka within striking distance; as the Black and White crept within 36-31 in the closing stages. But home team refused to get caught and rallied back to widen the gap to 11 points on back-to-back threes by Willis and Koehn. Despite Doron’s last second free-throw, Panküp TED Kayseri Collage carried a 10-point, 42-32 cushion into the locker room at the break. Willis had a game-high 18 points for the home squad in the first half.                      
Both teams struggled to find their offensive rhythm at the outset of the second half and kept firing blanks until the 1:49 into the third quarter when Dabovic and Little traded baskets on both ends. From that point on, our ladies in Black and White began to make their presence felt; as they managed to even the score at 44-44 at the halfway mark on a streak of unanswered buckets by Müjde, Harper, Dabovic and Doron. Then Naile and Müjde connected on a pair of short jumpers to pull the Black and White ahead, 48-44. Panküp Kayseri interrupted Beşiktaş’s 14-0 run with Nazlı Güler’s driving layup; but could not find a way to prevent Dabovic from knocking down back-to-back threes, which made it 54-48 for Beşiktaş Cola Turka. While the home team had trouble getting anything going offensively, Müjde buried a 27-foot three-pointer from the top of the key and stretched the margin to 9 points with 1:44 remaining. But Panküp Kayseri got consecutive jumpers from Nazlı, Nilay and Brown and narrowed the gap to 57-54 in the closing seconds. Nevertheless, Müjde sank her three free-throws with 6 seconds left on the clock and put the Black and White up, 60-54, heading into the final quarter of the play. 
Panküp Kayseri roared back to life in the fourth; as Brown and Burcu ignited a 6-0 run at the start with consecutive layups to tie the game at 60-60. Beşiktaş Cola tried to retaliate with Harper’s jumper; but the home side rode the scoring punches of Nilay and Brown to take a 64-62 edge with 6:19 showing on the scoreboard. At the 4:50 mark, Beşiktaş Cola Turka regained the lead, 65-64 on Hornbuckle’s three-pointer; and extended it to 5 points, 69-64, after Harper drove to the hoop for a layup. Panküp Kayseri, however, refused to go away and stayed close with back- to-back jumpers by Nazlı and Little. The Lady Black and White was only up 70-68 with 2: 46 remaining in the game. Hornbuckle and Dabovic hit consecutive jump shots to widen the lead to 74-70; but, with 1:21 to play, Nilay and Little responded with a pair of jumpers of their own and locked the score at 74-74. With 58 seconds left, Tuğba unleashed an 18-footer from the right wing to give Beşiktaş Cola Turka the lead for good. After Daboviç hit one of her two free-throws, the Black and White walked way with a well-earned 77-74 away victory.