Spartak Moscow 2 (women) beat Spartak Saint Petersburg Women 73:63 in the Russian Cup on Wednesday. The home side finished with ten points of margin after a contest that neither side could quite control. Both teams had played twice before this match, and neither had landed a win yet.
Moscow took their time to find rhythm. They started with a 63:58 win over Kazanochka K. the day before, then dropped a narrow 62:64 loss to Naberezhnye Chelny. St Petersburg had gone the other way — a 75:68 victory followed by a 73:69 loss, both against the same opponents. The pattern was familiar: one game tight, one game wide.
By then the table was doing little work. Three places down for both sides, zero points on the board. It is not a position that demands analysis when the season is this fresh. What mattered was who finished on the right side of the scoreline, and Moscow did.
Seventy-three to sixty-three is not a blowout, but it is enough. The hosts kept their head when the game opened up, and the visitors found themselves chasing without a clear path back. That is how cups tend to start — not with domination, but with one side making the extra pass at the critical moment.
