Superleague A Russia 11/2008 - Nadezhda Orenburg 87, Spartak-St. Petersburg 66

There are two opinions about the Superleague A Russia. The first is that it's as good as the WNBA. The second is that it's better than the WNBA. Given that fact, Nadezhda Orenburg (5-6) was looking forward to playing a team that wasn't stocked with current and potential WNBA superstars. Furthermore, Betty Lennox and Shameka Christon finally got their travel papers in order. All of that added up to a 87-66 win over home team Spartak-St. Petersburg (1-10) in front of a crowd of 750 spectators.

The boxscore is here.

St. Petersburg managed to keep up with Nadezhda for one quarter, and actaully led 18-17. But in the second quarter, St. Petersburg was held to just eight points as Nadezhda took a 43-26 lead. St. Petersburg came out fast and scored 27 points in the third quarter, closing to within 63-53. The home team, however, couldn't keep up with Nadezhda and St. Petersburgh flattened out in the fourth quarter, scoring just 13 points.

Nadezhda must have been looking forward to this game, as they shot 54 percent from the field compared to St. Petersburg's 36 percent. It appears that St. Petersburg beat Nadezhda in offensive rebounding by a score of 15-7, if "CHSCH" stands for offenseive rebounding. At the free throw line, Nadhezhda was dominant, scoring 14 of 16 shots.

Most of the work of St. Petersburgh came from the "four Olgas", as Olga Speranskaya (16), Olga Yakovleva (15), and Olga Firsova (11) all scored in double figues. Olga Gritsaeva would score 9 rebounds, matched only by Olga Yakovleva.

Betty Lennox got back to work in earning her money, scoring 30 points on 12 for 20 shooting, with six defensive rebounds. Tamane Zane would score 17 points and Shameka Christon added 13 points. Anastasia Veremeenko would add seven points and 12 rebounds for the eventual winners.