Tarsus Belediye snatched a 79-76 win over the visiting Beşiktaş Cola Turka Women’s Basketball in a Week 2 game of the Beko Basketball League.

After Shavonte Zellous and Dubravka Dacic buried back-to-back jumpers to start the game, the Lady Black Eagles got a pair of baskets from Branzova Erdenay and Simone Sales to jump out to a 9-5 lead three minutes into the quarter. Then, they furthered the lead to 8 points, 13-5, behind consecutive layups by Shavonte Zellous and Branzova Erdenay who capitalized on Rayshell Hodges’s turnovers, forcing the host Tarsus into an early timeout. But the hot-shooting Zellous teamed up with Esra Erden to stretch the Black and White’s advantage to 20-5 right after the timeout. The host Tarsus finally showed some signs of life in the closing minutes and cut the deficit to 7 points at 20-13 on buckets from Lamour Black, Rayshell Hodges and Kübra Siyahdemir only to see the Black and White carry an 11-point, 24-13, cushion into the second.
Both teams went scoreless for the first 1:30 of the second stanza until Shavonte Zellous nailed another jumper to make it 26-13 for the Beşiktaş Cola Turka. Tarsus Belediyesi tried to stay close with Marie Swainer but had a hard time stopping the sure-handed Zellous, who continued to pour it in from allover the court to extend the margin to 16 points at 35-19 midway through the quarter. After a much-needed time out, the home side got a tip-in from Lamour Black before Maria Swanier drove in for a layup to bring the lead down to 35-23 entering the final minute. Despite this brief spurt, the Black Eagles were up 37-23 at halftime.
After opening the third quarter with Marie Swainer’s three-pointer, Tarsus Belediyesi started playing a much better defense in the second half.  Then, thanks to a string of buckets by Gökçe Doğan, Rayshell Hodges and Marina Kress, the hosts put together a 10-2 run to pull within 6 points of the Black and White at 41-35. Beşiktaş Cola Turka called a timeout, and after the timeout, Naile İvegün interrupted the host team’s run with a 12-foot jumper. But Tarsus Belediyesi would not go away, and a succession of unanswered points from Kübra Siyahdemir, Rayshell Hodges, Gökçe Doğan and Lamour Black leveled the score at 46-46 with 2:12 left.  Gökçe Doğan was fouled by Esra Erden soon after, and she made no mistake with her free throws to give Tarsus a 48-46 edge. From that point on, the game turned into a shooting duel as the home squad remained on top, 56-54, heading into the final quarter of play.
Kübra Siyahdemir tossed in jumper to start the fourth stanza and pushed the lead to 4. Beşiktaş Cola Turka answered right back with Dubravka Dacic’s layup, but Kübra’s three-pointer from the left corner put Tarsus up, 61-58, with 8:15 to go. Shavonte Zellous and Marina Kress swapped 3-point shots before Esra Erden connected on a short-jumper to close the gap to 65-64 at the halfway point. Despite getting baskets from Gökçe Doğan and Marie Swainer, Tarsus could not pull away from the Black Eagles and clung to a 77-76 lead entering the final minute of regulation. With 17 seconds remaining, the home team increased the lead to 3 points on a pair of free throws by Roneeka Hodges. The Black and White made a last-ditch attempt to stay alive, but Sandra Mandir’s three-pointer fell short so the Tarsus Belediyesi won the hotly-contested game 79-76.