BWBL 14/2008 - Olympia 78, SK Cēsis 77

It was the final game of the regular season for the Baltic Women's Basketball League. SK Cēsis (11-3) finished a long road trip to Belarus to play Olimpia (8-6) which is one of the best Belarussian teams. SK Cēsis would have finished second in the BWBL anyway, so there was nothing at stake. Even on the road, SK Cēsis came close to winning - last year, they lost 89-79 - but couldn't hold out, losing 78-77 to Olimpia.

The box score is here. To read the box score, click "View match statistics".

After a high first scoring first quarter, 30-23 in favor of Olympia, SK Cēsis closed the gap to one point, 45-44. At the end of the third quarter, SK Cēsis managed to take a 62-59 lead, but it fell apart in the fourth quarter. With two minutes left, SK Cēsis had closed to within two points, 74-72, but it would be the closest SK Cēsis got after losing the lead.

Olimpia hit 41 percent of its attempted field goals, compared to just 34 percent from the visitors. SK Cēsis, however, absolutley whipped Olimpia on the boards, out-rebounding the home team 55-39 and pulling down 19 rebounds compared to Olimpia's eight. SK Cēsis wouild also hit 18 out of 20 free throws, but it looks like those two missed free throws would have helped.

Olimpia

Natalia Anufryenko: 27 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds.
Tatiana Likhtorovich: 17 points and 13 rebounds. There would be three double-doubles in the game and this would be only one of them.
Olga Kopylova: 14 points, 8 rebounds.

SK Cēsis

Kristen Mann: 16 points and 12 rebounds from the former Atlanta Dream player - but she shot 6-for-24.
Sandra Dijon: 11 points, 12 rebounds.
Tamera Young: 15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists. Unfortunately, 3-for-13 shooting but she did hit 8 out of 10 free throws.

BWBL 13/2008 - SK Cēsis 92, Viktoria 52

SK Cēsis (11-2) is already assured of making the BWBL playoffs. They're just finishing up their schedule in Belarus right now, and they had no trouble with Belorussian team Viktoria (2-12) with an easy 92-52 win.

The box score is here.

The quarter-by-quarter score makes it obvious - SK Cēsis crushed Viktoria in the first half, holding home team Viktoria to ten points in each of the first and second quarters. SK Cēsis led by 53-20 at halftime, and in the second half, they didn't have to try as hard.

Viktoria hit 35 percent of its attempted field goals, compared to 52 percent for SK Cēsis. SK Cēsis absolutely destroyed Viktoria in rebounding by a factor of 50-30, earning 16 offensive rebounds to Viktoria's three. It helped, because Viktoria got 11 steals and SK Cēsis turned the ball over 22 times. SK Cēsis earned 19 trips to the free throw line and hit 15 shots.

Viktoria

Nadzeya Bohdan: 12 points, 6 rebounds.
Aliaksandra Zybrytskaya: 10 points, 3 rebounds.

SK Cēsis

Tamera Young: 23 points, 9 rebounds. I was wrong in my earlier post, she didn't have any turnovers.
Rima Margevičiute: 12 points
Santa Dreimane: 12 points
Kristen Mann: 9 points and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes of play.

Hopefully, pictures soon.

P. S.: Updated now that the box score is working.

BWBL 12/2008 - SK Cēsis 78, Tallinna Living 51

Tamera Young has had a heavy load to bear in Estonia.

SK Cēsis (10-2) played its 12th BWBL game, the second game of a back-to-back game tour in lovely Estonia. Tallinna Living (3-11) would become the whipping girls after the SK Cēsis loss yesterday to BC Star - TLU. It would be Tallinna Living's misfortune to take the 78-51 loss as a gift from their Latvian visitors.

The box score is here. (Click on "View match statistics" to see the boxscore.) A gallery of game images can be found here.

SK Cēsis led after the first quarter 26-14, but then fell apart in the second quarter. They scored only four points in the second quarter, but hung on to 30-29 lead at halftime. After some halftime...uh...encouragement...SK Cēsis held Tallinna Living to just nine points in the third quarter and outscored them 26-13 in the final quarter.

SK Cēsis hit 41 percent of their field goal attempts compared to 37 percent for Tallinna Living. Both teams had similar rebound numbers, but SK Cēsis led Tallinna Living 11-7 in offensive rebounds. Tallinna Living turned the ball over 25 times in the game, which must have been the difference. Furthermore, SK Cēsis was sent to the line 20 times compared to just three for Tallinna Living.

Tallinna Living

Kerli Haas: 12 points, 4 rebounds.
Anastassia Ptitsona: 11 points, 4 rebounds.
Katrin Olmari: 6 points, 4 rebounds...9 turnovers.

SK Cēsis

Kristen Mann: 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assist for the ex-Atlanta Dream player now with the Indiana Fever.
Ieva Tare: 12 points, 8 rebounds.
Tamera Young: 4 points. 1-for-6 shooting in only 15 minutes of play.

BWBL 11/2008 - BC Star - TLU 66, SK Cēsis 62

How come the Dream can't have cool banners like that?

Somehow, we've come up to 12 games in the Baltic Women's Basketball League for SK Cēsis. I can't get an accurate count, it seems. I know that one of the game between SK Cēsis and a Ukranian team was cancelled, so that should make this game #10. But if you go to the SK Cēsis website, it's implied that this is game #11.

As it turns out, SK Cēsis had been scheduled to play an Ukrainian team, TIM-SCUF, sometime in the past. That team failed to show up and the Baltic League finally awarded SK Cēsis a forfeit victory.

Maybe SK Cēsis should have skipped this game. Going on the road again - this time to Estonia - they are upset on the road, 66-62 yesterday in Baltic League play.

The box score is here. You just have to click on the "View match statistics" link. A gallery of images from the game is here.

SK Cēsis jumped out to a strong 20-8 lead against the home team, and took a 40-23 lead into halftime. Even after three quarters of play, SK Cēsis still led 55-42. But in the fourth quarter, it fell apart. SK Cēsis only scored seven points in the fourth quarter and BC Star - TLU scored 24 to steal the victory at home from SK Cēsis.

The club president of SK Cēsis blames the fact that they have an injured center. If so, how come they were able to hold BC Star - TLU at arm's length for three quarters without her?

Both teams were equals in field goal accuracy (BC Star - TLU 42 percent, SK Cēsis 43 percent). It was in rebounding that SK Cēsis fell shot, outrebounded 37-28 and only finding three offensive rebounds. Maybe SK Cēsis's president is right. Both teams were relatively even when it came to turnovers and free throw shooting, so it was rebounding that would make the difference.

BC Star - TLU

Davineia Payne: 26 points and 13 rebounds for the BWBL's leading scorer. Graduated from LaSalle in 2006.
Ashley Wallace: 20 points, 6 rebounds. Graduate from Division II Pace University.
Janna Rannaveski: 9 points, 7 rebounds.

SK Cēsis

Kristen Mann: 16 points, 8 rebounds for the ex-Atlanta player who now plays for Indiana.
Ieva Tare: 14 points, 5 rebounds
Santa Dremaine: 13 points, 4 rebounds
Tamera Young: An awful game: 4 points and 4 rebounds in 21 minutes played. 2-for-8 shooting.

P. S.: If you're inclined to look at the gallery pictures, prove to me that there were more than a dozen people in attendance outside the players and the staff.

Tamera, Your Game Has Been Cancelled

It looks like the game between SK Cēsis and the Ukrainian team Kozachka has been cancelled by the Ukranians. From what I can figure out from the SK Cēsis website is that Kozachka is doing so well in the Baltic League that they figure if they win their next two games, they'll go to the tournament anyway - therefore, they save money by not playing and tanking this game.

SK Cēsis and the Baltic League are left scratching their heads.