TBBL 20/2009 - Galatasaray 65, Mersin 61

The Turkish women's league is about four games away from wrapping up its regular season. With Mersin having the secnod best record in the league, third-place Galatasaray needed a win to strengthen its position and it got the win on its home court, 65-61.

Galatasaray moves to 16-4 on the year, and Mersin falls to 17-3. The final boxscore is here.

The first quarter battle was between Barbara Turner and the team of Yelena Leuchanka and Tamika Catchings. Ahead 15-11 with slightly less than three minutes to go in the first quarter, Galatasaray boosted their lead to 15-12. Ivory Latta came on strong to start the second quarter but Galatasaray recovered and extended their lead to 37-27 at halftime.

Galatasaray extended their lead slightly to 50-39 after the third quarter, but Erlana Larkins and Barbara Turner took off for Mersin, lowering the gap to six points with slightly over six minutes to go in the game. However, Galatasaray was able to keep control of the game and seal the victory.

Barbara Turner led Mersin with 18 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Erlana Larkins scored 11 points and 13 rebounds, the only double-double for Mersin. Former Atlanta Dream player Ivory Latta added 12 points in the loss.

For Galatasaray, Katie Douglas scored 13 points and four rebounds, and Tamika Catchings scored 12 points and 10 rebounds. Yelena Leuchanka played 21 minutes but didn't have a good shooting game:

4 points
1-for-6 shooting
3 rebounds
21 minutes played