Game of the Week: Quarter-Finals tickets on the line as Avenida host Girona

SALAMANCA (Spain) - This all-Spanish matchup is always a box-office blockbuster, but even more so as the last game of the EuroLeague Women Regular Season when there are Quarter-Finals tickets on offer. 

Both teams are in contention to advance the next phase and will battle it out not only against each other, but also with Sopron Basket. Only two of the trio will progress. That is something that provides even more intensity to a rivalry that barely needs this kind of exciting additional spice.

Throw in the fact that both teams met in the Spanish league this past weekend, with Avenida winning a 78-76 thriller and expectations are sky-high that this could be a potential classic. 

You can watch the live broadcast of the game between Perfumerias Avenida and Spar Girona on the EuroLeague Women YouTube channel on Wednesday, March 1 at 20:00 CET.

Form guide: Avenida are in third place in Group B with an 8-5 record and have found some momentum lately. So much so, they are gunning for a fourth straight victory. In the Spanish league, they are in third place with 18 wins and 5 losses.

Girona occupy fifth place in Group B, just outside the coveted top four spots with a 7-6 record. Their last six games have been a rather consistently inconsistent sequence of win then lose, win then lose, win then lose. Domestically, they are in second spot with 18 wins and 4 defeats.

Last meeting: The first meeting earlier in the campaign was a shock one-sided success for Girona, who completed an unlikely but eye-catching 74-48 rout. Rebekah Gardner scored 19 points, with Maria Araujo also impressing with a near double-double of 15 points and 9 rebounds. Since then, both teams have changed personnel. Girona have seen Brittney Sykes coming in and Laura Cornelius departing, while Avenida have changed coaches and seen Aleksandra Crvendakic move on.

Key matchup: Bridget Carleton was ruled out of the first meeting between these teams and it showed. She is such a primary offensive tap for Avenida and it will be interesting to see how Girona try to shut her down. That task could fall to their marquee baller Rebekah Gardner, with Avenida perhaps looking for Carleton to flip things and do a typically strong defensive job on her opponent. 

'X-factor': There is little between these two, as their respective placings in Group B would suggest. Perhaps the biggest difference on paper is that Avenida shoot 38 percent from downtown, while Girona are sub 28 percent. At least the visitors have a seemingly superior thirst for rebounds per game. However, forget the numbers and forget the margin of victory in the first meeting, this looks and feels like a game that could be decided by small details, fine margins and ultimately, who can bring the clutch plays in crunch time.

Wednesday, March 1