Russia's superb defense guided the reigning champions to a comfortable 74-61 victory over Turkey in their Group C opener at EuroBasket Women 2009.

Svetlana Abrosimova led Valeriy Tikhonenko's Russians with 16 points, five rebounds and five steals and the defense held Turkey to just 35 percent shooting from the field while blocking 10 shots.

But the convincing win was not without a downside as the coach saw his team commit 20 turnovers and go long stretches without scoring on offense.

"Obviously it bothers me a lot. We prepared for this game. We wanted to play well but it's still way too much to have 20 turnovers. The goal for this team and these players is to have 12 turnovers or less," said the coach, whose defense forced 22 Turkey turnovers.

The Russians were very balanced offensively as Olga Arteshina scored 14 points, Irina Osipova had 11 points to go with her three blocks and Ilona Korstin chipped in 10 points. Maria Stepanova was held scoreless but the star center did collect six rebounds and four blocks.

"Defensively I think we played good for the majority of the game. It's not easy for the Turkish team to play against the number one team in Europe. But they played tough for the full 40 minutes and made sure we stayed concentrated on the game," said Abrosimova.

Turkey were led by Durdane Gumusay, who hit three three-pointers late to total 11 points. And Nevin Kristen Nevlin had 10 points and nine rebounds for Ceyhun Yildizoglu's side.

"They are very strong and quick and have a lot of good players. In the first quarter we couldn't stop them. But in the end of the game we continued to fight," said the Turkish coach.

"I think the biggest thing about this game is the number of turnovers we committed. I mean I don't know if it was going up against Russia as our first opponent. But I hope we got the jitters out. We´ve just got to take what we can out of this game," said Nevlin, who will be playing a critical role as Turkey are missing star center Nevriye Yilmaz.

Both teams struggled with turnovers to start the game as the first basket wasn't made until Nevlin's jumper after more than two minutes played.

Elena Volkova nailed a triple to give Russia a 6-2 lead before back-to-back baskets by Nevlin and a three-ball by Tugba Palazoglu gave Turkey a 9-8 lead half way through the period.

Then the Russians took over, going on a 15-2 run capped by Arteshina's three-pointer to make it 23-11.

The Turks were able to pull within nine points but Tikhonenko's team led 29-16 after one quarter.

Volkova opened the second period with a layup and Stepanova and the rest of the Russian defense absolutely baffled Yildizoglu's team, which missed their first 13 shots of the quarter.

The only saving grace for Turkey was that the Russians could only score one point in more than five minutes as Nilay Yigit's layup were Turkey's first points of the quarter with 4:12 remaining.

Both teams snapped out of their funk and Russia were able to build an 18-point gap, 40-22, before Palazoglu put back her own miss for a 40-24 score line at the break.

Arteshina knocked down another triple early in the third period for a 45-26 lead.

Russia's offense again struggled while their defense excelled.

Turkey went more than four minutes without a basket though Russia received only a three-ball by Tatiana Shchegoleva for a 48-28 lead.

Jumpers by Nevlin and Yasemen Saylar brought Turkey within 48-32 and Saziye Ivegin knocked down a triple as the margin was just 52-37 after three quarters.

The Russians executed better offensively in the fourth period and Osipova's three-point play gave Tikhonenko's troops a 20-point lead, 61-41 with nearly seven minutes left.

Gumusay nailed three triples and Birsel Vardarli made another as Turkey tried to make the final result more respectable as Russia led just 71-59 with 1:20 to play.

Tatiana Popova answered with a jumper and the game was over for good.

Valery Tikhonenko, Russia Head Coach

"Turkey played strong till the end and didn't let to win so easy. A bad feature about our play was too many turnovers - 20. For our team normal max should be 12."

Ceyhun Yildizoglu, Turkey Head Coach

"The Russians were strong and fast. In the first part of the game we couldn't stop them but anyway we didn't give up. In the second half we started to play head to head but it wasn't enough. My team can play better and it will. I hope that tomorrow against Lithuania everything will be ok."

Reigning champions Russia look to avoid a slip-up as they begin the defense of their title in their 2009 EuroBasket Women Group C opener against Turkey.

The Turks had a very strong preparation for the tournament and new coach Ceyhun Yildizoglu would love to grab an upset of Russia to start a difficult group in Valmiera with showdowns waiting against Lithuania and Serbia. But things will be very difficult as Yildizoglu is missing six players including star veteran center Nevriye Yilmaz from Fenerbahce and Isil Alben and Esra Sencebe from EuroCup winners Galatasaray.

Head-to-Head: This will be the second meeting between these two teams after Russia knocked off the Turks 91-87 in the Preliminary Round of the 2005 EuroBasket Women.

Turkey's point guard Nilay Yigit will need a steady hand against Russia.

Last Time Out: Head coach Valeriy Tikhonenko's Russia needed a strong fourth quarter to overcome Lithuania in the final warm-up 72-62. And Ceyhun Yildizoglu's Turkish side finished their warm-ups with a 63-51 win over Belarus at the Zafer Kupasi tournament.

Key Match-Up: Russia's Maria Stepanova vs. Turkish centers Nevin Kristen Nevlin and Melek Bilge.
The 2008 FIBA Europe Women's Player of the Year Stepanova is one of the best players in the world and she will not have to deal with Yilmaz. Instead Nevlin will have to stop the Russian starlet. In the EuroLeague Women Quarter-Finals between Stepanova's UMMC Ekaterinburg and Fenerbahce, Nevlin averaged 17.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. Bilge meanwhile is one of Turkey's most promising low post talents. The 20-year-old totaled four points in six EuroLeague Women games with Besiktas Cola Turka while averaging 1.7 rebounds in seven minutes of action.

Key Stats: 10.6 and 7.6. Those were the average points and rebounds for Irina Osipova at the 2007 EuroBasket as the Russian power forward teamed with Stepanova to form a deadly one-two punch in the paint as Russia were crowned European champions.

X-Factor: Turkish point guard Nilay Yigit.  The 30-year-old playmaker will have to deal with a wave of Russian guards coming at her defensively while trying to keep the Turkish offense in sync. Yigit also will have to slow down the Russian attack - not a welcome task for anyone.

Sounding Off: "I think that the triumphant completion of the preparations before the championship has left a very good atmosphere in the team." Russian coach Valery Tikhonenko