Euroleague, 11th day: Red Star–Virtus Bologna 83-74

Virtus sinks in the second half at the Pionir and leaves the road paved for the Red Star. The Serbs are on their fourth consecutive victory since Dusko Ivanovic’s arrival on the bench and continue their ascent, while it is the third consecutive knockout for the black and whites who pay for the absences of Teodosic, Ojeleye and Shengelia.

RED STAR-VIRTUS 83-74

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Segafredo had been perfect in the first quarter, going +10, she had still been in the game in the second being recovered by the triples of the wild Vildoza (14 points with 4/4 from three at halftime), but then she got overwhelmed in the second time paying above all for the 8 turnovers in the third period when Red Star terribly raises the defensive intensity and takes control of the game with Dobric’s accelerations (20 points with 7/10 from two). With Mickey and Jaiteh stackers within an excellent team game, Virtus had flown to 17-27 at the beginning of the second quarter, when Scariolo had already fished Belinelli in his rotations as he would have done with Mannion shortly after. A few attack rebounds that find the defense out of balance, however, allow Red Star to return, with Vildoza who doesn’t miss a beat and leads the overtaking at the interval (42-41). Segafredo shuts down there: Lazic, Markovic and Mitrovic raise the Serbian defensive wall, while the black and white one crumbles and the attack stops throwing balls. Dobric produces +12 on the third siren (67-55), the energy of the Bolognese is over and only Mannion’s triples in the last minute allow the final disadvantage to be brought back under double figures after also reaching -17.

Red Star: Dobric 20, Vildoza 16, Mitrovic and Bentil 12

Virtus: Jaiteh 15, Mickey and Mannion 11