What's Going On?

Answer: nothing. Not a single solitary thing. I just watched the greatest comeback in Tennessee history today in their amazing win against Rutgers. And tomorrow, I'll be going to watch Georgia Tech play Tulane. Other than that: bupkus.

However, I found out who has probably replaced Ann Strother at Jiangsu in China. The name? Adrian Williams-Strong.

WCBA 19/2008 - Jiangsu 100, Shangdong 79 - Goodbye, Ann

Jiangsu (13-6) beat Shangdong (7-12) by a score of 100-79. It was a nice road win for Jiangsu, and the boxscore can be found here.

However, this is the third straight game without Ann Strother for Jiangsu. "Williams" has replaced her in the boxscore.

This translated article implies that Ann Strother has been dismissed from the team. The impression I'm getting is that it was "just business", that Jiangsu wanted someone stronger to take them into the playoffs as there are only three games left in the regular season.

I hope Strother had a good time in China. I'll no longer be reporting on Jiangsu in the team reports and will focus on Jennifer Lacy in Beijing.

WCBA 18/2008 - Bayi Telecom 92, Jiangsu 82 - Where is Ann Strother?

Now that I seem to have whipped this awful sickness - well, I haven't whipped it but I'm feeling much better - I just need to whip the WCBA website in shape and catch up on those two TBBL games that were played on Sunday.

As for the WCBA, it appears that Bayi Telecom (13-5) has just beaten Jiangsu (12-6) at Jiangsu by a score of 92-82 on the road.

The untranslated box score is here. The problem is that when you try to translate the boxscore into English using Google Translate, Google Translate throws up its hands and says, "we can't find this page".

I hope that the case is that the WCBA has become so popular that the webpage is getting many more hits than expected, leading to the inevitable crashes. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case.

I won't be writing up the boxscore for that reason, and for another reason: it seems that Ann Strother has been replaced by "Williams" yet again. I don't know what on earth has happened to Ann Strother - she wore #16 for Jiangsu and "Williams" wears #17. Both players are listed on Jiangsu's roster, which is very strange, since teams can only have one "foreign aid" player.

If Strother doesn't show up for the game this Saturday, my only conclusion will be that she's left the team, and I'll stop following Jiangsu.

If Google Translate/the WCBA website can get their collective acts together, I'll report the Liaoyang/Beijing game. I know Jennifer Lacy played in that one.

WCBA 17/2008 - Jiangsu 104, Liaoning 89 - Has Ann Strother Been Let Go from Jiangsu?

When reading a writeup on some games, I found this translated-into-English-from-Chinese article:

Jiangsu team league before this round of the replacement of the foreign aid, a strong center to replace the Houwei An Williams - Sizhuo this game for the first time the new foreign aid on behalf of the Jiangsu team debut WCBA.

Also note the boxscore: "Ann Sizhuo" wears #16, but we have a new "foreign aid" wearing #17 - "Williams".

I have no way of figuring out who "Williams" is, because the entire WCBA site seems to be down. However, we know that:

1) Ann Strother missed this game, and that I don't think she's missed a game all year.
2) WCBA teams can only have one "foreign aid" player.

I'll try to figure out what's going on.

However, I've also found out that there's going to be an All-Star Game after the regular season. There will be a "Northern" team and a "Southern" team.

It is therefore time to get your votes in. I'll write out a sample ballot later. But obviously, we want to elect "Jennifer Rashid" (Jennifer Lacy) and "Ann Sizhou" (Ann Strother); it's just that the ballot isn't entire straightforward. It's a bit tricky.

WCBA 16/2008 - Beijing 84, Jiangsu 79

With only seven more games left in the WCBA regular season, Jiangsu (11-5) hoped to use Beijing (10-6) as an appetizer before heading on Saturday to take on league-leading Liaoning. Instead, Jennifer Lacy's team pulled the welcome mat out from under the visitors' feet, winning 84-79 at home to remain in fourth place.

The translated boxscore is here.

Looking at the quarter to quarter boxscore, it seems like a fairly even game at first - the score was tied after 10 minutes and Beijing took an 45-41 lead into halftime. Beijing came out strong in the third quarter holding Jiangsu to 15 total points, and Jiangsu's rally in the fourth just wasn't enough to come back and win.

Part of the problem, undoubtedly, was that Jiangsu only had seven players earn any minutes. Sometimes, I wonder what's going on. Are Chinese coaches loathe to substitute, or are there unreported injuries?

Beijing won the shooting battle, 44 percent to 41 percent over Jiangsu, and also hit nine 3-point shots. However, Jiangsu killed Beijing in offensive rebounding, 24-14. They made more turnovers than Beijing, but were better at the free throw line - 76 percent vs. 64 percent. It's hard to find a key to the game that gives Beijing the win; I guess you had to be there.

Three of the four "Zhangs" on the Beijing team helped lead the team to victory. Zhang Lin had 19 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Zhang Wei scored 27 points and Zhang Fan scored 18. Zhou Honghua scored 13 points, six rebounds, and six assists.

It would not be a good day for Jennifer Lacy. She shot 2-for-6 and was 1-for-4 from the free throw stripe. She also committed four fouls.

With only seven players playing, four of Jiangsu's players were in double-digits. Xu Song scored 28 points and seven rebounds, and Chen Xiaojia scored 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Wang Xiao-Li would score 10 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Ann Strother would score 14 points and four rebounds for Jiangsu.

Only six more games to go in the WCBA regular season....

WCBA 15/2008 - Jiangsu 126, Hayao 73

It was definitely a great day for Jiangsu (11-4). Not only were they able to crush visiting Hayao (7-8) by a score of 126-73 at home, but Bayi Telecom would end up losing to Liaoning on its home court by a score of 78-75. Bayi Telecom's loss gives Jiangsu sole possession of second place in the WNBA, only two games behind Liaoning.

The boxscore is here.

What do you write about a team that won each of its first three quarters by an average score of 16.6 points? Jiangsu led by 18 points at the end of the first quarter and crossed the half-century mark before the end of halftime, taking a 65-34 lead into the break. When Hayao could only put together 13 third quarter points, I don't think the outcome of the game would be in doubt by anyone.

Jiangsu shot 65 percent for the game. I don't know if that was because Jiangsu was shooting so well or because Hayao didn't put up a struggle (they only shot 41 percent). Add to that 21 turnovers by Hayao and this game was a foregone conclusion and a joy for the home fans.

It was time for the Jiansgu coaching staff to share the wealth. No player played more than 30 minutes on Jiangsu. Chen Xiaoja scored 24 points and nine rebounds to lead Jiangsu. Ann Strother scored 18 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes of play. Xu Song would score 16 points and five rebounds, and Bian Lan would add 13 points.

Leading for Hayao was Tan Xiaofei who scored all of her 16 points in just 13 minutes of play. Miao Lijie scored 13 points for Hayao and Liu Jiacen scored 10 points and five rebounds. Hu Rui Jiao would lead Hayao with rebounds with seven.

I wonder what the audience will look like if I get pictures. This is one of those games to which you go home early to beat the traffic.

WCBA 14/2008 - Jiangsu 94, Liaoyang 81

Watch out for Jiangsu (10-4) - they might have moved from pretenders to contenders. They've moved into a tie for second place in the WCBA and are only two games out of first place with eight games to go in the season. Liaoyang (5-9) became the latest victim, losing 94-81 at Jiangsu.

Jiangsu fell behind 22-16 after one quarter, but outscored Liaoyang by 14 in the second to take a 46-38 lead into halftime. Both teams played evenly in the third quarter, and Jiangsu extended the lead in the fourth quarter to go into double-digits in the win category.

One more win and Jiangsu is guaranteed to finish at .500 for the season. That should get them into the playoffs even if disaster strikes the rest of the way.

The boxscore is here.

Once again, the win is just a case of one team outshooting another. Jiangsu shot 50 percent from the field compared to 38 percent from Liaoyang - has there ever been a case where one team outshot another by 10 percent or more and lost? Both teams were about even in offensive rebounding. There were few turnovers in the game, but Jiangsu sent Liaoyang to the line 34 times - a good thing that Liaoyang only shot 67 percent from the free throw line.

Three players would score more than 20 points each for Jiangsu. Bian Lan scored 24 points and eight assists. Xu Song played all forty minutes, scored 23 points and 11 rebounds. Chen Xiaojia also scored 23 points and 11 rebounds, a rarity of two double-doubles on the same team. (If Wang Xiao-Li had picked up a couple of rebounds, it would have been three double doubles.)

How well did Ann Strother do? She scored nine points. Her 2-for-7 shooting was poor, but a) she was 4 for 4 from the free throw stripe, and b) she scored nine rebounds.

Liu Dan led Liaoyang with 22 points and nine rebounds. "Song Peacekeeping Force" scored 21 points and eight rebounds, and Zhao Shuang scored 12 points and six rebounds.

Game Results, November 29 2008

Liga Feminina (Spain)

Ros Casares 82, Zaragoza 67. Ros Casares (9-1) continues dominating the Spanish league, with Zaragoza (3-7) the victim. Erika de Souza is still out due to a muscle pull.

Cadi La Seu 58, Extrugasa 53. It's the same old story for Extrugasa (2-8) - almost good enough, but not quite good enough to win. Extrugasa hit 94 percent of their free throws - going 15 for 16 - but this was the only part of the game in which they excelled. Kelly Santos, a forward with the Seattle Storm, scored 17 points and seven rebounds for Cadi La Seu. Scoring duties were split in Extrugasa between Katia da Silva with 14 points and nine rebounds, Mandisa Stevenson with 10 points and five rebounds, and Tamera Young with 10 points. Unfortunately, Young also had five turnovers to go with her 10 points, leading both teams in turnovers. The loss puts Extrugasa at 12th place among the 14 Spanish League teams.

WCBA (China)

Beijing 83, Yunan 69. The win puts Beijing (8-5) all by itself in fourth place in the Chinese League. Four players scored in double figures with Zhang Wei leading the team with 24, but Jennifer Lacy had 10 points...and 16 rebounds. The entire Yunan (4-9) team only had 26 rebounds. The mysterious "Walter Green" (who might be Tangela Smith, as there are only four WNBA players in the Chinese league) scored 17 points and three rebounds. She also drew 12 fouls. Hope she has a nice bath after the game, whoever she is.

Jiangu 88, Shanghai 84. Jiangsu (9-4) hit the road and beat Shanghai (4-9) to move up to third place in the Chinese league. Shooting 54 percent from the field helped. "Jiaolan" led all Shanghai players with 18 points and eight rebounds. Five players scored in double figures for Jiangsu, led by Bian Lan with 19 points and Wang Xiao-Li with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Ann Strother scored eight points and picked up eight rebounds.

Catching Up

We've made it to Texas. I want to at least get some results and boxscores up.

WCBA

Beijing 82, Guangdong 63: Beijing (7-5) hits 70 percent of their two points shots, and holds Guangdong (6-6) to eight points in the third quarter. Jennifer Lacy scored seven points and two rebounds in the win. Chasity Melvin of the Chicago Sky scored 14 points and seven rebounds for Guangdong.

Jiangsu 96, Zhejiang 72: Zhejiang (0-12) remains without a win this year as Jiangsu (8-4) wins easily at home. Ann Strother scored 17 points and five rebounds for Jiangsu, which stays in third place.

Euroleague

Gambrinus 81, Villeneuve d'Ascq 61: All CSKA Moscow games in Group B have been erased as the Moscow superteam has declared bankruptcy. Villeneuve d'Ascq (1-4) gets rid of two losses, but picks up another one against Gambrinus (2-4), which has no trouble with Villeneuve d'Ascq. However, with only five teams in Group B now, Villeneuve d'Ascq merely needs to finish fourth, and it has already beaten last place team Riga once.

For Gambrinus, Hamcheto Maiga-Ba scored 13 points and six rebounds. Tamika Whitmore scored 14 points. For Villeneuve d'Ascq, Iziane Castro Marques scored 11 points and Jolene Anderson scored six points.

WCBA 11/2008 - Jiangsu 91, Guangdong 73

Dean Oliver, a basketball stats maven, once wrote that there is more to be learned when two teams with identical records play than there is when two teams, say 8-2 and 2-8, play. Jiansgu (7-4) was tied with Guangdong (6-5) going into Saturday's game, but in the second half of the game the two teams were in no way even. Home team Jiangsu beat Guangdong 91-73.

The win puts Jiangsu in third place by itself in the WCBA. Only Bayi Telecom (8-3) and Liaoning (9-2) are ahead of Jiangsu, and these are the only two teams to win WCBA championships in its short history.

The boxscore is here.

Hometeam Jiangsu took a 21-16 lead after the first ten minutes and would keep the lead for the rest of the game. Guangdong closed to within four by halftime, 44-40. Jiangu would begin to extend its lead in each of the following quarters and by the end, Jiangsu was threatening to win by twenty.

Each team shot extremely well. Jiangsu shot 51 percent and Guangdong shot 47 percent. It was the sheer volume of shots that gave Jiangsu the edge. Their number of two-point attempts exceeded all of the shots Guangdong took. Add to that the fact that Jiangsu scored 17 offensive rebounds and that Guangdong turned the ball over 25 times, and Jiangsu's victory was almost a foregone conclusion. I'd love to see the first half stats of this game and compare them with the second half.

Xu Song led Jiangsu with 22 points and nine rebounds. Five players would score in double points for Jiangsu, among them Bian Lan. Lan, an important figure in women's basketball in China, came very close to a triple double - 16 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists.

What about Ann Strother? She started and played 33 minutes, but only scored five points and four rebounds. She was 2-for-7 in shooting, a subpar day for Ann.

Chasity Melvin would lead all players from Guangdong with 19 points and eight rebounds. Melvin plays for the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. Zhu Lin would also scored 10 points and seven rebounds, bu talso turned the ball over six times for Guangdong.

WCBA 10/2008 - Yunan 104, Jiangsu 80

Jiangsu (6-4) had an outside chance to take third place in the WCBA. If Hayao lost and Jiangsu won, it would left Jiangsu one game behind Liaoning and Bayi Telecom. Jiangsu's opponent was 11th-place Yunan (3-7), so it should have been a simple task. Instead, Jiangsu went to Yunan and got flattened 104-80 on the road.

The boxscore is here.

Looking at the quarter by quarter score tells you all you need to know. Instead of rolling over, Yunan fought Jiangsu point by point. They ended with a tied first quarter, and going into halftime, the home team led by one, 49-48. When the third quarter started, Yunan began to roll over Jiangsu and continued rolling over them into the third quarter and for the rest of the game. Barring some significant injury, Yunan sensed that they could win this one, and they did win it.

If you're a bad team, you have to do something significant to win, and it was Yunan's shooting that sealed the deal. They hit 66 percent from the field, shades of Villanova-NC State. Shanghai "only" hit 46 percent, but Yunan was on fire. Shanghai beat them in rebounding, had about the same number of turnovers, and scored more points on free throws than Yunan, but that 66 percent shooting was just impossible to overcome.

Mystery "foreign aid" player "Walter希斯蒂格林" returns to the boxscore, and "Walter Green" just killed Jiangsu singlehandedly. She scored 40 points on 17-for-17 shooting. She hit all of her free throws, and picked up three rebounds as well. Cao Bette scored 21 points and "Lina Money" scored 10, but without "Walter" and that amazing performance, Yunan might not have had a chance in the world.

Jiangsu almost pulled it off, but they weren't good enough today. Bian Lan scored 24 points to lead Jiangsu, and Wang Xiao-Li had a double double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. As for Ann Strother, she would start but would only play 25 minutes, only scoring five points and four rebounds. She was 2 for 4 in shooting and 1 for 4 (??) at the free throw line. It wasn't her day today.

If there are pictures, I'll try to post them.

WCBA 9/2008 - Jiangsu 84, Henan 83

Jiangsu (6-3) would only be able to put seven players on the floor in their game against Henan (4-5). This might be a little inexplicable to most of us, but Jiangsu put only seven or so players on the floor against Bayi Telecom for some unknown reason. Despite being a bit shorthanded, Jiangsu eked out an 84-83 against Henan at home to move into fourth place in the WNBA.

The boxscore is here.

If you look at the quarter by quarter scored, you get the impression that this was a battle - no quarter was won by any team by more than three points. Henan won the second and third quarters; Jiangsu won the first and fourth, coming back from a 64-62 deficit after thirty minutes to win the fourth quarter by three points and take the game. According to an early press report, the game was tied with two minutes in but Henan made a set of blunders that lost them the game.

Henan outshot Jiangsu 48 percent to 40 percent. So why did Henan lose?

1) Jiangsu hit more three points and took three more shots.
2) They outrebounded Jiangsu 46-36, but the battle of offensive rebounds was almost over.
3) TURNOVERS. Henan turned over the ball 24 times, compared to just 13 for Jiangsu.
4. Jiangsu shot 83 percent from the free throw line, going 19 for 23 overall.

Since there were only seven players who got any time - really it was just five players, as a pair of players only played a couple of minutes or so - everyone ended up in double figures. Bian Lan - who Ann Strother says is a big player in women's basketball in China - led with 23 points and nine rebounds. Xu Song had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Ann Strother had 13 points and four rebounds and five steals in 38 minutes of play.

For Henan, Ji Yanyan scored 32 to lead all scorers, but the new foreign sensation "Yolanda" scored a double double worth writing home about - 20 points and 21 rebounds. I haven't been able to figure out who Yolanda is yet. I expect that it's Yolanda Griffith of the Seattle Storm although it's possible that it could be some lesser Yolanda.

Wouldn't it be much nicer if all the players just went by their nicknames?
According to Strother, this is the list of team nicknames.

Dong-Dong
Qua-Qua
Shan-Shan
Duck
ShuGa
Lilia
Pian-La
Da Bowl
and Ann Sizhou, which is what Ann Strother is called in China.

The coach of Jiangsu is listed as Xiong Ding. He is called Mr. Ding, and inexplicably, he prefers to be addressed as "Ding Dong". Mr. Ding Dong is a very serious man, but Strother still can't help but laugh sometimes when she hears that.

We at the Atlanta Dream Blog wish Ann Sizhou and Mr. Ding Dong all the success in the world at the WCBA.

WCBA 8/2008 - Jiangsu 109, Shangdong 63

I'm sure that Jiangsu (5-3) - and Ann Strother - had been looking for an easy WCBA game while fighting along the middle ranks of the WCBA. They found one in Shangdong (4-4). Shangdong is affiliated with a lottery company, but Shangdong must have scratched but not won. They found themselves on the sad end of a 46-point defeat, losing 109-63 on the road.

The boxscore is here.

Jiangsu dominated the early part of the game and led 64-40 at halftime in a fast paced game. By the end of the third quarter, Jiangsu led 95-48, and the only question was whether or not Jiangsu would set some sort of scoring record. However, Jiangsu fell short of the 120 point plateau, scoring 14 points in the fourth. (Fatigue might have set in.)

Jiansgu outshot Shangdong 62 percent to 35 percent. That's the game right there. No other analysis is really needed. Jiangsu scored more overall rebounds, but offensive rebounding and turnovers were basically the same. Jiangsu would send Shangdong to the free throw line 25 times, but the hapless Shangdong team would only hit 56 percent of their shots at the free throw line.

Four players would score in double figures for Jiangsu, led by Xu Song with 29 points and six rebounds. Chen Xiaoja would score 23 points and five rebounds. The major player of the game was Bian Lan, who scored a double-double with 20 points, eight rebounds...and 16 assists. Whoa.

As for Ann Strother, she would score 11 points and four rebounds in 23 minutes of play. "Severe winter Michelle" scored two points in four minutes of play. Funny...she didn't play in the last game. I wonder if this might be Michelle SNOW? (Chinese media is mum on the matter.)

For Shangdong, "Si Secretary" led with 15 points and Sun Weiying scored 13 points. Liu Yang had seven points and eight assists for Shangdong.

Pictures will come when the snow falls on the autumn leaves. (Sounds profound, don't it?)

Chinese Basketball Fans Taking a Liking to Ann Strother

After the Bayi Telecom-Jiangsu game, there were two players that were surrounded by fans after the game. The first was the popular Sue Feifei, probably the most popular of the Chinese players.

The other was Ann Strother.

From sports.sina.com:

After the game, two players into a home surrounded by fans, while Sui Feifei is the Bayi team, while Jiangsu's foreign aid An Sizhuo. Fans will be surrounded by layers of them, scenes from the point of view, it seems far better than the popular An Sizhuo Sui Feifei. Sui Feifei the end of the signatures have been back to the locker room, fans still here An Sizhuo constantly swarmed to. An Sizhuo in the last staff was able to return under the protection of the locker room.

At a news conference after the match, when it comes to foreign aid popular team in Jiangsu, Jiangsu coach Xiong is not surprising: "We Jiangsu where women's basketball fans are welcome by, Jiangsu women's basketball team as we grow Do good, the fans say that we are 'the most beautiful of the National Women's Basketball team', our foreign aid is the most beautiful foreign aid, the other in the home, we could hang welcome. "Jiangsu popular players have more than Sui Feifei Go on? In this regard, Xiong explained this way: "Sui Feifei is probably because the home team, the fans will see more visual fatigue."


Whoa. You think Ann will want to come back to America after all this is over?

WCBA 7/2008 - Bayi Telecom 92, Jiangsu 86

Who is #16? Jiangsu's little foreign girl?

One of the rules of translating off foreign websites is "the farther you stray from your home language, the more likely errors are to creep in." China and the United States are half a planet away, and my knowledge of Chinese Script could be written on a peppercorn.

Yet I have learned, and perservered. However, mistakes crop up when you're reading a schedule made up of entirely Chinese characters. The active part of translation provides further peril: what do you call the team that Google Translate calls "August 1st"? How do you decipher Chinese characters into foreign names? What is the difference between Liaoning (a good team) vs. Liaoyang (a team not as good as Liaoninng)?

So last week: I screwed up. I wrote that Jiangsu had played and beaten Bayi Telecom - the Yankees of the WCBA. That was incorrect. They beat Liaoning - the Red Sox of the WCBA. It was close - Bayi Telecom and Liaoning have been the only teams that have won WCBA championships. Liaoning was the team that broke Bayi Telecom's run, and Bayi Telecom only regained the championship last year after a two-year layoff.

However, one of the rules of blogging is that "mistakes can be fixed very easily". You go back to the original post, swap out "Bayi Telecom" for "Liaoning", change some text and no one need be the wiser. What it means, however, was that Jiangsu didn't beat the best team in the WCBA last week - just the second banana.

So how did Jiangsu (4-3) fare against the elite Bayi Telecom team (6-1)...for real? They came close...but not close enough. A third quarter where Jiangsu only scored 13 points doomed them to a 92-86 loss on the road.

The boxscore is here.

Jiangsu kept it close, and actually led Bayi Telecom at halftime, 42-41. In the third quarter, Jiangsu would fall behind and faced a 65-55 deficit going into the fourth quarter, where a mini-comeback fell short and allowed Bayi Telecom to get their sixth win in seven games.

It was a high shooting game that would have put many WNBA games to shame. The visiting Jiangsu shot 56 percent compared to Bayi Telecom's 51 percent - and to add to that, Jiangsu hit 13 three pointers.

In rebounding, however, Jiangsu got waxed. Bayi Telecom dominated, and Jiangsu could only muster up four measly offensive rebounds the entire game. They also turned the ball over 20 times compared to Bayi Telecom's 14 times. They would send Bayi Telecom to the free throw line 21 times, and Bayi Telecom would shoot 85 percent from the free throw line. Jiangsu shot better, but Bayi Telecom did the fundamental things that won them the game.

For home team Bayi Telecom, only seven players took the floor. They only needed seven. Chen Nan led all scorers with a 32 point, 16 rebound game for Bayi Telecom. Zhang Xiaoni scored 22 points, and Sui Feifei scored 20 points. Sui Feifei briefly played with the Sacramento Monarchs in 2005.

As for Jiangsu, Ann Strother led all players with 19 points and four rebounds, including shooting 5 for 7 from behind the arc. She shot 7 for 11 for the entire game (but she also made five turnovers). Bian Lan scored 17 points, and Xu Song added 13 points and led all Jiangsu players with eight.

However, for those of you who got to this point: there is a gallery! A young Chinese blogger decided to post some pictures of her visit to Bayi Telecom-Jiangsu. According to the blogger, attendance was free and the game was well attended. Ann Strother was called "Jiangsu's foreign little girl", which I assume is a term of endearment.

(Note: the rules for those playing along at home:

北京 Beijing
江苏 Jiangsu
广东 Guangdong
云南 Yunan
上海 Shanghai
八一 Bayi Telecom
沈部 Liaoyang
河南 Henan
哈药 Hayao
山东 Shangdong
辽宁 Liaoning
浙江 Zhejiang

It helps to have a key written out instead of in your head.)

WCBA 6/2008 - Jiangsu 91, Liaoning 78

Jiangsu (4-2) likely knew this would be a tough game coming in: Liaoning (5-1) had been the team that broke the streak of Bayi Telecom's continual run of WCBA championships. Undefeated this year. The only team that had won a WCBA championship other than Bayi Telecom. But Jiangsu ignored Liaoning's reputation, and delivered a stunning 91-78 defeat to the champs at home in Jiangsu.

The boxscore is here.

Jiangsu began to beat up Liaoning coming right out of the box. They led 18-9 after the first quarter, and held an eight point lead against a dangerous Liaoning team 38-30. Coming out of haltime, they poured on more points, beating Liaoning 27-17 in the fourth quarter alone. Liaoning tried a fourth quarter comeback - scoring 31 points - but Jiangsu almost matched them basket for basket, a testimony to Jiangsu's never-say-die spirit.

Jiansgu shot 44 percent compared to Liaoning's 41 percent. Both teams battled hard under the boards, playing virtually even. Turnovers were also even. But the game was virtually decided at the free throw line, as both teams had three players foul out. Liaoning outshot Jiangsu at the free throw line, 85 percent to 78 percent. However, Liaoning sent Jiangsu to the line 12 more times than they themselves got to visit.

Regarding free throws: it just goes to show that in weaker leagues, good free throw shooting can be the key to being an elite team.

Three players virtually carried Jiangsu on their back. Chen Xiaojia led Jiangsu with 24 points, six rebounds and four assists. Xu Song had a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Ann Strother scored 20 points on 20 shots - the definition of efficiency - and added six rebounds and three assists.

For Liaoning, Chen Xiaoli was a one-woman team, scoring 30 points and 10 rebounds on 13-for-21 shooting. The only othesr player at Liaoning to score in double figures were Zhang Yu with 11 points and Tangela Smith with 10 points. Smith is a center for the Phoenix Mercury and long time international player, and she picked up seven rebounds for Liaoning.

If there's a pic, I'll find it. Don't get your hopes up.

WCBA 5/2008 - Jiangsu 70, Beijing 64

One of the joys of overseas play is that you get to see your favorite players play against their own teammates on a semi-regular basis. This WCBA match in Jiangsu would be a meeting between "foreign aid" players Ann Strother (Jiangsu) and Jennifer Lacy (Beijing) - two players who haven't played against each other since Indiana played Phoenix in the 2007 WNBA season. This time, Ann Strother's team would get the win as Jiangsu beat Beijing 70-64, leaving Jiangsu at 3-2 and Beijing at 2-3 in the WCBA.

The translated boxscore is here.

It appears that Jiangsu got off to a great start, leading 50-34 at the half. However, Jiangsu would only score 20 points in the second half and spend the rest of the game fighting back a potential comeback from Beijing. If you look at Jiangsu's by-the-quarter numbers, you can hear the air leaking from a tire, with Jiangsu stumbling across the finish line by scoring only seven points in the fourth quarter.

Without a game writeup, all one has to look at are the boxscores. Jiangsu would outperform Beijing in field goal percentage 47 percent to 37 percent - Beijing managed to hit seven more three points shots that Jiangsu hit, helping Bejing to keep the score close with their outside shooting game. Jiangsu also dominated Beijing on the boards, 48-36, and picking up five more offensive rebounds.

Both teams made the same number of turnovers. Beijing was also able to pick up five more points at the free throw line. If you look at the free throw stats, don't burst out into laughter. Jiangsu was 2-for-7 from the free throw line, 28 percent. Beijing was 7-for-12, at 58 percent. When your opponents are shooting that poorly at the free throw line, you should be playing the final minutes as if you were a bulldozer in heat, knocking players over like tenpins. ("They're not going to hit their shots anyway!")

For Jiangsu, it was a great game for Xu Song, who had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Five players would score in double figures for Jiangsu, including Ann Strother, who matched Xu Song's 15 points and had six rebounds of her own. Bian Lan came very close to a triple-double with 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

Looking over to the Beijing squad, Zhang Wei (there are four "Zhangs" on this team) led all players with 19 points, followed by Zhang Fan with 11 points. As for Jennifer Lacy, she would only play 18 minutes, scoring eight points and six rebounds.

Pictures will come when - and if - they can be found.

Hayao-Jiangsu Game Pic

This is a black and white pic (obviously) from a writeup of the 99-81 victory of Hayao over Jiangsu in the WCBA.

Who is the "foreign aid" on the right? I believe that's Ann Strother!

WCBA 4/2008 - Hayao 99, Jiangsu 81

Miao Lijie (in white) of Hayao fights for a rebound against Chen Xiaoja (in green) of Jiangsu.

Jiangsu (2-2) had started the 2008-09 season strongly, but they'd have to take their act on the road to see if it would play. Unfortunately it didn't play well enough and Hayao (2-2) evened up its record with a 99-81 win at home.

The boxscore of the game is here. A gallery of the game can be found here, but once again, no Ann Strother.

Jiangsu shot 50 percent to Hayao's 57 percent. Jiangsu "countered" by being sent to the free throw line 26 times, and shooting 80 percent. But Hayao took- and made - more baskets overall than Jiangsu, thanks to a 39-28 edge in rebounding.

Miao Lijie led all players for Hayao with 30 points. Two other Hayao players scored at least 20 points - Gao Song scored 25 points and 13 rebound, and Liu Jiacen scored 23 points and had nine rebounds.

For the visiting Jiangsu, Bian Lan - probably the most popular player for Jiangsu - led with 22 points, followed by Chen Xiaoja with 12 points and four rebounds and Ann Strother scored 12 points and had seven rebounds - but fouled out after thirty minutes of play.

Ann Strother will get to host Atlanta Dream teammate Jennifer Lacy on Saturday as Beijing comes to Jiangsu for WCBA play.

Pictures from Liaoyang/Jiangsu

Bian Lan of Jiangsu gets one of her three rebounds.

We actually have some nice pictures from the Liaoyang/Jiangsu game right here. It looks pretty well attended. Liaoyang is in white, Jiangsu is in green.

Note that there are no pictures of Ann Strother anywhere. From the few pictures I've seen, I suspect that the WCBA prefers that "homegrown" talent be highlighted rather than any "foreign aid". Chasity Melvin deserved to be MVP of the first week of the WCBA but the award was given to a Chinese player instead.

By the way, we have an interesting comment from someone anonymous who might be "in the know" about how Ann is doing in China.

Ann left last Sat for China----24hr flight from her hometown---14 hr differential timewise from Colorado. Is loving China and its people, not so sure about eating sparrow and eel, but gradually getting used to the cuisine!!! :)

Why does "sparrow and eel" sound like an Iron Chef challenge? Maybe we should start a Twinkie fund for Ann. "Send all snack foods to...!"

P. S.: Post #400!