Russia Superleague A 12/2009 - Orenburg 69, Dynamo Kursk 56

Despite having 1200 fans and home court advantage, Dynamo Kursk ended up losing the thread and fell to Orenburg by the score of 69-56.

The box score is here. The loss drops Dynamo Kursk to 5-7. Orenburg advances to 9-4.

Kursk got off to a 16-12 start in the first quarter, but it fell apart in the second quarter, with Dynamo Kursk limited to just nine points. Down 34-25 at halftime, Dynamo Kursk couldn't get a break in the third quarter either and Orenburg built their lead to 15 points: it was just too much for Dynamo Kursk to overcome.

There was blame, both self-blame...

@snowtyme Okay I'm over the loss. Preparation was the difference. They were prepared and we were not. You have 2 practice how ur going 2 play.

...and blame from others....

"The efforts of some Kursk Americans, apparently, lacked."

Sheana Mosch out of Duke scored 23 points despite six turnovers. She played the full forty minutes of the game. Anastasia Veremeenko, one of the most heralded players in the world, scored 12 points and 11 rebounds in just 28 minutes. Dynamo Kursk was out-rebounded 41 to 29.

Jillian Robbins scored 17 points and four rebounds for Dynamo Kursk. Unfortunately, only two players scored in double digits for Dynamo Kursk. The other player? Michelle Snow.

21 points
9-for-18 shooting
7 rebounds
4 personal fouls

This Week's Games

Regular seasons games in progress, and two deciding games in Euroleague mark games this week. Tomorrow, the two top teams in Turkey play in a regular season rematch.

Monday

Russia Superleague A: Dynamo Kursk (5-6) vs. Orenburg (8-4)

Tuesday

TBBL: Mersin (11-1) vs. Fenerbahce (12-0)

Wednesday

Euroleague 8th Finals: Krakow vs. Pécs, Game 3
Euroleague 8th Finals: Perfumerias vs. Bourges, Game 3

Saturday

LFB: Ros Casares (17-1) vs. Cadi la Seu (7-11)
LFB: Perfumerias (16-2) vs. Olesa (10-8)
PLKK: Gydnia (17-2) vs. Krakow (13-5)
TBBL: Kayseri (7-6) vs. Mersin (11-1) (*)

(*) - Standings as of February 8th, 2010.

Late Results

In the Slovakia Extraliga, the Good Angels Kosice have played Presov. How that game went is anyone's guess. Of course, you could also ask @angel_35 (Angel McCoughtry) how the game went, but I suspect that the Good Angels won - they're undefeated in Slovakia play this year.

And finally, some word from Chamique Holdsclaw's team over in Cyprus. K. V. Imperial coasted to a 6-50 win over Anagennises to finish at 9-1 at the end of the regular season. At some point, the Cypriot teams will play their semifinals. Holdsclaw also will be playing in the quarterfinals of Eurocup - there's likely to be more information about that than any Cyprus game.

Swish Appeal Provides Atlanta Free Agency Breakdown

Q over at Swish Appeal interviewed Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors for her take on the free agency issues surrounding the Dream.

It's a rather deep review of the Dream as Atlanta thinks about 2010.

Quoting from the article - first, about the fact that the Dream were next to the bottom in turnovers per game in the WNBA:

“I really think that you have to stop and look at all the new players we had last year – we had 8 new players last year out of 11,” said Meadors about their turnovers. “Any team that uses the fast break like we do – we’re not as good as Phoenix, but we’re pretty close – in pushing the ball up the court, you’re going to have more turnovers.

About Ivory Latta and how Meadors perceives Latta's role on the club:

“Ivory is a smaller point guard, she handles the ball, and she scores more than Shalee,” said Meadors. “I truly believe that Ivory is a 2-guard – she’s in a 1-guard body, but she’s really a 2-guard and she’s a great scorer. And 2-guards look to score."

About Shalee Lehning's role on the team:

“We won 18 games with her as a starter, so it’s kind of tough to not put her back out there again,” said Meadors about whether Lehning is the projected starter for 2010. “It seemed that at times, Shalee did a great job of running our team and we were basically looking for that…To me Shalee has proven herself, even in her rookie season…When she got hurt two games before the playoffs started, when we moved to Detroit to play them it really hurt us not having her at point guard.”

There is a lot to read, so I suggest you go read it. The breakdown of the roles of the Dream all by itself is worth reading.

LFB 18/2009 - Ros Casares 80, Vigo 70

The big news coming out of the Ros Casares camp for WNBA fans has nothing to do with their successes in the Liga Femenina. Rather, it's that Becky Hammon and Ros Casares have mutually agreed to end their contract. Supposedly, Becky Hammon will be making an announcement about why she decided not to stay, that announcement occurring shortly after the NBA All-Star break.

This had nothing to do with Ros Casares's 80-70 win over Vigo, which keeps Ros Casares as #1 in the Spanish league with just one loss. The box score for the game is here.

Even after playing two European league games, Ros Casares led 45-29 at halftime, and after that, it was just a question of minding the lead. Vigo played El Ros evenly in the third quarter, but sixteen points were just too much to make up in the final ten minutes.

Egle Stakneviciene scoreed 19 points and seven rebounds for Vigo, with Iva Sliskovic contributing 11 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

Belinda Snell had 16 points and five rebounds for visiting Ros Casares with Amaya Valdemoro also contributing 16 points. Becky Hammon had nine points, five rebounds and two assists in her final game with Ros Casares.

How did Erika de Souza did? She shot 100 percent from the field, but didn't take many shots:

9 points
4-for-4 shooting
4 rebounds
2 steals
21 minutes of play

Pictures provided when I find them.

LFB 18/2009 - Perfumerias 60, Zaragoza 55

Even after playing two Euroleague games this week, Perfumerias is showing that they deserve to be ranked as a contender for the Spanish League title with a 60-55 road win against fourth-ranked Zaragoza. Perfumerias advances to 16-2 on the year (there are 26 games in the season) whereas Zaragoza falls to 11-7. Zaragoza remains in fourth; if Vigo manages to beat Ros Casares at home Zaragoza might fall to fifth.

The box score is here.

Perfumerias only gave one player more than 30 minutes: Alba Torrens. Even so, Perfumerias was able to take a 35-27 lead into halftime, leading both quarters. However, Zaragoza held Perfumerias to just nine points in the third quarter and Perfumerias's lead was cut down to 43-41 going into the fourth quarter. I've not been able to find out whether or not Zaragoza had a lead late in the game, but Perfumerias managed to keep the win on the road.

Allison Feaster, a former WNBA player out of Harvard, scored 20 points for Zaragoza. Lucila Suarez had nine points and eight rebounds for the home team.

It was all up to Alba Torrens to carry a tired Perfumerias, and she did, with 23 points, four rebounds, and three steals. However, Sancho Lyttle had another one of her great games:

10 points
4-for-7 shooting
7 rebounds
2 steals
4 turnovers

Photos will come if I can find them.

What are the Best International Leagues for Women Basketball Players?

At the end of the WNBA season, there is the inevitable dispersal of American players to various European leagues overseas. Some of these leagues, however, are better than other ones. It's much more prestigious to be playing in the French League than the German League. But which leagues have the best talent and which deserve to be called the best in the world?

I decided to go to the Eurobasket.com website. Every now and then, they create a list of the Top 100 Teams in European women's basketball. They use their own calculations to determine their top 100 teams.

I decided to give each country's teams a certain number of points based on their location on this list.

#`1 - 8 points
#2 - 7 points
#3-4 - 6 points
#5-8 - 5 points
#9-16 - 4 points
#17-32 - 3 points
#33-64 - 2 points
#65-100 - 1 points
not on list - 0 points

Using these point totals, we come up with a country total - we take all teams on the list which belong to a given country, assign each a point total, and sum up the point totals of all teams to get the country point total.

Here are the final results:

Spain 30
Russia 26
France 22
Italy 18
Poland 17
Turkey 14
Hungary 12
Czech Republic 11
Romania 10
Serbia 10
Lithuania 9
Slovakia 9
Belgium 6
Israel 6
Slovenia 6
Ukraine 6
Greece 5
Bulgaria 4
Croatia 2
Germany 2
Bosnia 1
Latvia 1

The next question is: "do the results pass the smell test?" One odd result is that Spain is at the top of the list, and not Russia.

Part of the reason is that the point-scoring system awards not only leagues that have individual strong teams, but leagues that have depth as well. For example, there are very strong teams in the Russian League, but that league doesn't have as many teams as Spain, and even the losing teams in the Spanish League are pretty damned good. Russia has the #1 and #2 teams on the list (Ekaterinburg and Spartak Moscow) but Spain has the #3 through #5 teams (Ros Casares, Perfumerias, Rivas Ecopolis). You could make a good argument that the Liga Femenina is at least as strong as the Russia Superleague A.

The top six teams are exactly what I'd expect: after Spain and Russia come France and Italy, traditional women's basketball powers. Following those teams come two women's leagues that are making a play for international dominance - the one in Poland and the one in Turkey. It seems that just about anyone who is any good plays in one of those top six countries.

After the top six, one comes to countries that might have two or three good teams, usually with one or two WNBA players on the roster. I think of Slovakia, which has Candice Dupree and Angel McCoughtry, along with Erin Lawless. At the bottom of the list are leagues like Greece which are on shaky ground and where you hear the worst stories - teams folding and players not getting paid.

There are some Asian leagues that deserve to be ranked somewhere: the ones in China, South Korea and Japan come to mind, as well as the Australian League where Lauren Jackson is playing. But until a new "Worldbasket" website is created, we'll just have to make due with the given list.

Euroleague 8th Finals 2/2009 - Good Angels Kosice 65, Beretta 59

Angel McCoughtry doing work.

The Good Angels got the upset in Italy and found themselves in a great position - getting the oppotunity to clinch at home. They made good use of that opportunity, winning 65-59 in Slovakia and propelling the Good Angels Kosike team into the Euroleague quarterfinals, a place no one expected the Good Angels Kosice team to be.

All of the information - game report, box score, gallery, etc. - are all at this link.

Beretta managed to get an 18-13 lead, but the second quarter was all Good Angels, going on a 15-9 run in the last four and a half minutes of the first half and taking a 39-33 halftime lead. With the score 54-43 at the end of the third quarter, Beretta stormed back in the fourth quarter with a 9-2 start to close the score to 56-52 with 5:46 left.

Beretta stayed within a couple of baskets until the last minute: Bernadette Ngoyisa scored on a one-and-one with 1:38 left to close to within 60-57. However, the Good Angels would go to the free throw line six times in the remainder of the game...and they'd hit all six shots.

Bernadette Ngoyisa was the player of the game, scoring 18 points and 12 rebounds in just 28 minutes for Beretta. Laura Macchi had 17points for Beretta, the only other player in double-digits for Beretta.

For the Good Angels, there were three players in double digits: Miljana Musovic scored 12 points. Candice Dupree scored 15 points and seven rebounds in 38 minutes. And of course, Angel McCoughtry also had a double-digit game:

12 points
6-for-11 shooting
6 rebounds
4 personal fouls
4 turnovers
4 steals

Euroleague 8th Finals 2/2009 - Bourges 69, Perfumerias 64

Lyttle is second from left, undoubtedly looking for her 17th rebound.

For Bourges, it was a case of "there's no place like home". With 3000 spectators to provide support and a good first half, Bourges won the second game of their three-game series with Perfumerias to tie the series at 1-1. The deciding game will be played in Spain on Wednesday, February 10th.

All of the good stuff - game report, box score, play-by-play and photo gallery - can be found here.

Bourges managed to establish a modest 20-15 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes. Perfumerias briefly closed to 22-21 before Bourges marched out front again, leading 38-29 at halftime. However, in the third quarter Perfumerias began to get uncomfortably close to Bourges, with an Anna de Mondt lay-up closing the score to 43-41 with six minutes left. But Bourges managed to pull out in front again, leading 53-46 with one quarter left.

Perfumerias came charging back, hanging within a couple of baskets of Bourges late in the fourth quarter. With three seconds left in the game, an Anna de Mondt 3-point shot closed the gap to 67-64. However, Bourges had the ball, Perfumerias was forced to foul, and Anael Lardy made the final free throws for Bourges.

Styliani Kaltsidou scored 16 points and six rebounds for Bourges. Anael Lardi had 12 points and three rebounds in just 21 minutes played.

Anna de Mondt scored 14 points, three rebounds and three assists for Perfumerias. But the best player of the game was Sancho Lyttle....

20 points
8-for-15 shooting
16 rebounds with four offensive rebounds
38 minutes played

Euroleague 8th Finals 2/2009: Ros Casares 85, Prague 74

Sandra Le Dréan vs. Erika de Souza.

Ros Casares became the first team - chronologically speaking - to secure a spot in the "Elite Eight", the Eurocup Quarterfinals by defeating Prague 85-74 in the Czech Republic. Ros Casares swept the Czechs 2-0 to end the playoff.

All of the information - the game report, the play-by-play, the box score and a small gallery are right here.

What's to say? It really wasn't much of a contest despite the score. El Ros led 18-4 at the start and finished the first quarter with a 24-12 lead. Down 13 points at halftime, Prague would have to claw their way back. Prague managed to close to 55-46 in the third quarter but Ros Casares played just as well, leading 64-51 at the end of three quarters. With four minutes left, Prague closed to 74-66 but would never get any closer than eight points to Ros Casares.

Sandra Le Dréan scored 11 points and six rebounds for Prague. Katerina Elhotova led all scorers for Prague with 13 points.

Delisha Milton-Jones led Ros Casarese with 18 points and six rebounds. Amaya Valdemoro would have 12 points and five rebounds for El Ros. Erika de Souza would also break double-digits in points.

10 points
5-for-9 shooting
5 rebounds
2 assists
27 minutes played

Euroleague 8th Finals 2/2009 - Pécs 68, Krakow 64

Iziane Castro Marques tries to put Krakow on her back.

With Krakow winning the first game, the best-of-three series moved to Hungary. Down on the ropes in the fourth quarter, Pécs made a stunning fourth-quarter comeback in a must-win situation to win 68-64, tying the series at 1-1. Dalma Ivanyi's triple-double helped save the Hungarian team from elimination. The deciding Game Three will take place on Wednesday, February 10th.

The game report, box score, play-by-play and a small photo gallery are all here.

Pécs had the start of a good game. Pécs led 24-19 at the end of the first quarter, and built up a double-digit lead, 38-28 by halftime. However, Krakow began to come back despite the support of 3000 spectators - a 3-pointer by Marta Fernandez with 2:44 left in the third quarter put Krakow in the lead and the Polish team led 54-51 at the end of thirty minues.

But in the fourth quarter, Pécs rolled out to a 15-3 lead to start the quarter, leading the visitors 66-57 with five minutes left in the game. Krakow began their comeback, and would hold Pécs to just two points for the rest of the game -however, seven of those points came from free throws and Krakow could not buy a basket. Iziane Castro Marques went 0-for-3 in the last five minutes, including a couple of 3-point attempts in the final ten seconds.

The player of the game was Dalma Ivanyi, who carried the Pécs team on her back. She had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, going 4-for-5 from the 3-point line. Add four steals to that and it was a helluva game.

Ewelina Kobryn scored eight points and five rebounds for Krakwo. Janell Burse and Marta Fernandez had 16 points each.

Iziane Castro Marques scored in double-digits, but took a lot of shots to do it:

14 points
5-for-13 shooting, including 3-for-10 from the 3-point line
One rebound, one assist
29 minutes

Eurocup Quarterfinals Determined

Chamique Holdsclaw and Michelle Snow have teams that have moved on to the Eurocup quarterfinals. Holdsclaw plays for K. V. Imperial and Snow plays for Dynamo Kursk.

Three Russian teams have moved on to the Eurocup quarterfinals: Dynamo Kursk, Nadezhda and Dynamo Moscow. The best-of-two series will be played on February 18th and February 25th.

The Eurocup Quarterfinals

K. V. Imperial vs. Nadezhda
Sony Athinaikos vs. Dynamo Moscow
Municipal Targoviste vs. Dynamo Kursk
TV Saarlouis Royals vs. USA Mondeville

Eurocup 8th Finals 2/2009 - Dynamo Kursk 85, Györ 44

Dynamo Kursk won their first game against Györ 85-56. Even with Györ playing at home, Dynamo Kursk won easily 85-44, insuring their advance to the quarterfinals.

The box score and play-by-play are all at this link.

Dynamo Kursk started 29-9 and never looked back, winning all four quarters. The big stat is in 2-point shooting - Dynamo Kursk went 27-for-38 from short range, a dizzying clip of 71 percent.

No player from Györ scored in double digits. The best of the least was Zsofia Horvath, who scored seven points and five rebounds in 26 minutes of play.

For Dynamo Kursk, Jillian Robbins led all scorers with 18 points and 4 rebounds. Sandra Linkeviciene scored 10 points and eight rebounds in the win.

Michelle Snow had a good game as well:

15 points
6-for-8 shooting
5 rebounds
26 minutes of play

Eurocup 8th Finals 2/2009 - Montpellier 58, K. V. Imperial 51

Gaelle Skrella and Chamique Holdsclaw tussle for the ball.

The box score, play-by-play and a small gallery are all here.

When you have to overcome a 20-point deficit from last week's game, you'd better try harder. Despite the presence of 800 spectators, Montpellier found themselves down 19-14 at the end of the first quarter and both teams came to a halt in the second quarter. (Montpellier scored 11 points...K. V. Imperial scored six.) Neither team broke 40 percent shooting in the game, and Montpellier just wasn't going to build enough points to stop K. V. Imperial.

The box score looks awful. Montpellier had 25 turnovers, K. V. Imperial had 22 turnovers. K. V. Imperial only had five assists.

Paulin Krawczyk socred 21 points and seven rebounds for Montpellier. Mandisa Stevenson had six points and 11 rebounds in Montpellier's final game in Eurocup.

As for K. V. Imperial, only two players scored more than 10 points. Biljana Pesovic scored 11 points but had six turnovers...and then, there was....

...the Claw. Chamique Holdsclaw was clearly the player of the game.

18 points
7-for-18 shooting
10 rebounds
3 assists
36 minutes

Yelena Leuchanka Signed by Atlanta Dream

According to the Atlanta Dream, Belarussian center Yelena Leuchanka has been signed to a one-year contract by the Atlanta Dream.

“Yelena gives us great depth in the post area,” said Marynell Meadors, Dream general manager and head coach. “She’s a physical player with the ability to post up or shoot the midrange jumper. I have been fortunate to watch her over the years and she just keeps getting better. She’s going to be a very good player in the WNBA.”

The Atlanta Dream has been trying to sign this team for over two years now. In both 2008 and 2009 the DFO tried to pin Leuchanka down to a contract, and we were told over and over again that she was coming, but the DFO just couldn't get the signature on the paper. The Dream have finally hit the target.

Leuchanka is a native of Gomel, Belarus, a town close to the current boarder of Russia. Belarus was a part of the USSR when Leuchanka was a little girl. Leuchanka was a tall girl growing up and ended up at Olympic High School in Minsk, where her basketball training was intense. She made the Belarussian junior national team, but she wanted to come to the United States.

However, her English wasn't good enough to go to a four-year university. She started at Seminole Junior College and went to Wabash Valley Junior College, and finally came to West Vriginia. Unfortunately, she suffered ACL tears and sat out the 2003-04 season. She would also have another injury and sit out the second half of the 2004-05 seasons with a left knee injury. In 2006, she would be signed as a free agent by the Charlotte Sting in Charlotte's final year as a WNBA franchise. She would also play for the Washington Mystics in 2007. Over two years, she played a grand total of 67 minutes - but her Washington stint undoubtedly brought her to the attention of Marynell Meadors, then an assistant coach with Washington.

Since 2007, Leuchanka has played overseas for teams in Spain, Lithuania, Russia and Turkey. This year, she's averaging 10.6 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game in Euroleague, playing 30 minutes a game against the best players in the world. She's an 81 percent free throw shooter, and is no a shot blocker. She shoots 54.8 percent from the field.

So where does Leuchanka go? If the Dream want to keep three tall women on the roster next year, then one of these three players has to go: Sancho Lyttle, Erika de Souza or Michelle Snow. So, as the song goes "One of these things is not like the others...!"

Another question: in 2010 will Leuchanka have the kind of season she's having in Europe this year or will she revert to her 2006-07 numbers as a rarely used player? I don't know, but it will be interesting to find out!

McCoughtry to Take Part in Shootout at NBA All-Star Game

As part of "NBA All-Star Saturday Night", teams from Texas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Sacramento will take part in a shooting competition on February 13th. Each team has a NBA Legend, an NBA All-Star and a WNBA player.

For Team Atlanta, Joe Johnson is the All-Star, Steve Smith is the NBA Legend, and Angel McCoughtry will be the WNBA player. The other WNBA players are Becky Hammon for Texas, Marie Ferdinand-Harris for Los Angeles, and Nicole Powell for Sacramento.

Two comments: first, it's good to see Angel McCoughtry get more attention. She's tearing it up in the WNBA, she's a candidate for the USA women's basketball team, she's a high scorer in Euroleague and now she's becoming a WNBA premier player. We might have a franchise player here.

Second, I guess the rosters were put together before the Maloofs folded the Monarchs. ::facepalm::

Best of Five

This year, the format of the WNBA playoffs will change.

In previous years, the top four teams from each conference were seeded #1 through #4. Each conference had a best-of-three semifinals and a best-of-three conference championships. The conference winners went to the WNBA Finals, which was best-of-five.

In each of those best-of-three series, the first game was played at the lower-seeded team's home court, and the other two games (if necessarily) were played at the higher seed. These best-of-three series will now open at the higher seed's home court, with the second game at the lower seed's home court. If a third game is necessary, that game will be played on the home court.

The WNBA Finals will continue its 2-2-1 format: higher seed home, then lower seed home, then a fifth game at the higher seed home if necessary.

If we had had this format last year, things might have been different. Atlanta might have gotten to play at Philips Arena. Instead, the first game of the Atlanta-Detroit series was played at Detroit, and since Philips Arena wasn't available for the second game, Atlanta had to play at Gwinnett Arena, where they lost.

A Few Atlanta Dream Questions Answered

I have a new fan post on Swish Appeal. Those interested in such questions as "which of the three assistant coaches becomes the official assistant coach?" or "how's Chamique Holdsclaw's knee doing?" can be found at the link.