Beşiktaş Cola Turka Women’s Basketball traveled to Ankara for Week 17’s game against the Cankaya University Arı College and pulled out an 88-78 win at the Arı College Sports Hall on Friday.

Thanks to an array of jumpers from Shavonte Sade Zellous and Nvkesha Simone Sales, the Lady Eagles opened the first quarter on a 7-2 run and Esra Erden followed with a long three to make it 10-4 for Beşiktaş Cola Turka. Despite an impressive 8-point performance by the home team’s versatile forward Megan Elizabeth Frazee, the hot-shooting trio of Zellous, Sales and Erden continued to connect from outside and lifted the Black and White to a 23-15 lead going into the second.

The Ladies of Cankaya University came out on a roll in the second stanza and got back-to-back points from Megan Elizabeth Frazee (4), Eureka Brooks (4) and Lyndra Shajuan Weaver (1) during a 9-2 spurt to creep within one at 25-24 three minutes into the quarter. However, Beşiktaş Cola Turka would rally back behind the scoring of Naile İvegin (5), Kelly Silva Santos (2), and Shavonte Sade Zellous (2) to put together its own 9-2 run and bring the lead back to eight, 34-26, at the halfway mark. From that point on, the representatives from the Capital City worked hard to cut the deficit, but late layups by Gergena Branzova Erdenay,, Sandra Mandir and Naile İvegin made sure that the margin remained intact, as the Lady Eagles took a 46-38 advantage into the locker room at the half.

After Dila Aşkın converted a layup for the home team to start the second half, the Black and White had trouble getting on the scoreboard and went without a basket for nearly three and half minutes until Sandra Mandir stepped out and nailed a 3-point shot from the left wing. But Dila Aşkın would answer right back with her own three to trim the margin to four, 49-45, with 6:10 remaining on the clock. Nevertheless, Beşiktaş Cola Turka refused to let the game slip away; as consecutive buckets by Sandra Mandir, Nvkesha Simone Sales, Gergena Branzova Erdenay and Shavonte Sade Zellous increased the Beşiktaş’s led to 66-53 with one quarter to play.

Although Naile İvegin made a layup for the Black and White to open the scoring in the fourth, the next five minutes saw Cankaya University use a 15-4 run to crawl within four points, 72-68, with unanswered three-pointers from all over the court. Yet, Gergena Branzova Erdenay sparked a late Beşiktaş rally to keep the resilient Lady Eagles in front. In a last-ditch attempt to salvage the game, Lyndra Shajuan Weaver scored 5 straight points for the Cankaya University in the closing minutes, but home team’s all hopes faded when the Black and Whites sank 10 free throws down the stretch to stretch their advantage even further, en route to an 88-78 road win.