Dream Defeat Tulsa on Road, Move Into Second Place in East

One of the best teams in the Eastern Conference took on the worst team in the WNBA and won 105-89. It was the second most points scored by the Shock this year. The Dream move to 16-9 on the year and are just one game behind the Indiana Fever in the Eastern Conference and are in sole possession of second place. For the Shock, they've lost 17 of their last 18.

Iziane Castro Marques scored 23 points to lead the Dream on 8-for-14 shooting despite suffering a broken nose. My understanding is that she suffered the broken nose in practice by colliding with Brittainey Raven. Some wiseacre wrote elsewhere that it was the most impact that Brittainey Raven has had on the Atlanta Dream all year.

The box score here. You can see the Live Access archive here.

The Associated Press sings the same old song for Tulsa.

John Hall of Tulsa Today reports the "shocking" results.

Kevin Henry of the Tulsa World gives his take on the thumping.

Jeff Brucculeri of the Examiner provides an assessment and Lauren Harper of the Examiner provides her own interesting facts.

And finally, an article in Tulsa Today about 120 Shalee Lehning fans who made their way from Sublette, Kansas (Lehning's hometown) and Manhattan, Kansas (the home of Kansas State) to cheer their local hero.

Some more linky stuff later.

Izi Among the All-Stars

From the Atlanta Dream Facebook Page. See? Everyone loves Izi, even Lauren Jackson.

McCoughtry, Erika, Iziane are The Stars at The Sun

The final rosters have been named for the USA Basketball vs. WNBA game that will take place on Saturday July 10 and which will be televised by ESPN at 3:30 pm ET.

Three Atlanta Dream players have made the various rosters.

Playing on the WNBA Team:

Jayne Appel San Antonio Silver Stars
Rebekkah Brunson Minnesota Lynx
Becky Hammon San Antonio Silver Stars
Iziane Castro Marques Atlanta Dream
Katie Douglas Indiana Fever
Lauren Jackson Seattle Storm
Crystal Langhorne Washington Mystics
Sancho Lyttle Atlanta Dream
Michelle Snow San Antonio Silver Stars
Penny Taylor Phoenix Mercury
Sophia Young San Antonio Silver Stars

Playing on the USA Team:

Sue Bird Seattle Storm
Swin Cash Seattle Storm
Tamika Catchings Indiana Fever
Tina Charles Connecticut Sun
Candice Dupree Phoenix Mercury
Sylvia Fowles Chicago Sky
Angel McCoughtry Atlanta Dream
Maya Moore University of Connecticut
Renee Montgomery Connecticut Sun
Cappie Pondexter New York Liberty
Diana Taurasi Phoenix Mercury

Marynell Meadors will also be serving as an assistant coach of the USA Team. I would have liked to see Erika somewhere on the team, but McCoughtry, Sancho Lyttle, and Iziane represent the Atlanta Dream just fine. I'll definitely be watching on Saturday.

Erika on Univision

A picture of Erika de Souza visiting Spanish-language Univision for an interview. Both Erika and Iziane Castro Marques were interviewed. The picture is from the Atlanta Dream Facebook Page.

Good that they showed up on Univision, but I hope Univision didn't think that they spoke Spanish. Erika and Iziane speak Portugese as native Brazilians.

Career Points in an Atlanta Dream Uniform

A recent post was made at the Atlanta Dream message board stating that Iziane Castro Marques has become the first player to score 1,000 points in an Atlanta Dream uniform. So I decided to check on that.

Here is the list of career points leaders while wearing an Atlanta Dream uniform...and congratulations, Izi!


Iziane Castro Marques 1015
Angel McCoughtry 743
Erika Desouza 699
Sancho Lyttle 669
Betty Lennox 595
Ivory Latta 534
Chamique Holdsclaw 348
Jennifer Lacy 285
Tamera Young 270
Katie Mattera 220
Michelle Snow 185
Shalee Lehning 157
Coco Miller 150
Alison Bales 133
Kristin Haynie 94
Kasha Terry 92
Stacey Lovelace 91
Armintie Price 87
Camille Little 62
Kelly Miller 59
Kristen Mann 45
Yelena Leuchanka 44
Ann Strother 39
Nikki Teasley 39
Chioma Nnamaka 16
Brittainey Raven 11

Ó Pátria amada!

Q: Who are the only two Brazilians playing in the WNBA?

Just a wonderful picture posted by the Atlanta Dream Facebook Page. So if you're into social media, give it a visit. You'll find that it's chock-full of goodness like the picture above.

Mark 6:4

The Brazilian Basketball Confederation honored Iziane Castro Marques for her performance against San Antonio where she scored 24 points and 12 rebounds. You can read the translated version right here.

Wait a minute. That was Sancho Lyttle who had 24 points and 12 rebounds and not Iziane Castro Marques. But if you could convince Lyttle to speak Portugese....

(Heads up to the Painel do Basquete Feminino blog.

De Souza, Castro Marques Named to Brazilian National Team

After two years, Iziane will be back in the national colors.

New Brazil women's team head coach Carlos Colinas named the Brazilian women's national team, which will be convined to participate in the South American championship (August 8th through 14th) and in the FIBA World Championship (September 23rd through October 3rd). Among the players named to the team are Erika de Souza and Iziane Castro Marques. Don't worry Dream fans - both players say they won't take their place on the team until the end of the 2010 season for the Atlanta Dream.

Apparently, the news was released during a practice session and the other players started clapping. In May 2008, during the Olympic qualifying rounds Iziane had been benched early in the game by then-coach Paulo Bassul. She was called back on to the court in the fourth quarter and refused to leave the bench, ending her stint with the national team. Iziane had made it very clear that as long as Paulo Bassul was the coach, she wouldn't return. (Who says that only male basketball players can be divas?)

Final score: Castro Marques 1, Bassul 0. Eighteen players have been named as prospective players, and this group will be winnowed down before the start of serious play.

Let's hope that Brazil wins a...silver medal in the FIBA games. After all, I have to root, root root for my home country!

Euroleague Semifinals 2009 - Ros Casares 86, Krakow 57

Erika de Souza is looking forward.

In front of 6400 spectators, Krakow hoped that they could extend their amazing season a few steps further by making it to the European finals. Unfortunately, the best Krakow can hope for is third place in Euroleague, as they were thumped on Ros Casares's home ground with a 86-57 loss.

The win by Ros Casares sends them to the finals on Sunday to play Spartak Moscow, who have been Euroleague champs for three years in a row. Krakow plays Ekaterinburg in the consolation game.

The game report, box score, play-by-play and a small gallery can all be found here.

Krakow fell behind 31-15 in the first quarter, and it got worse. With two minutes left in the first half, Krakow was down by twenty points and El Ros took a 57-35 lead into the intermission. In the third quarter, Krakow was held to just seven points and it was all over except for a temporary celebration. Ros Casares shot 53 percent from the field; Krakow only shot 35 percent.

Ewelina Kobryn scored 16 points and nine rebounds for Krakow. The only other player to break double-digits for Krakow was Liren Cohen, who only scored seven points.

Iziane Castro Marques was the third leading scorer for Krakow with nine points, but it was a poor shooting night for Castro Marques:

9 points
3-for-11 shooting
2-for-4 free throw shooting
4 rebounds
3 assists
3 turnovers
27 minutes played

As for Ros Casares, Delisha Milton-Jones scored 17 points and five rebounds. Anna Montanana added 12 points for Ros Casares and Belinda Snell scored just 10 points. But the player of the game, and the winner of the Battle of the Brazilians was Erika de Souza:

23 points
10-for-14 shooting
11 rebounds
3 offensive rebounds

PLKK Quarterfinals 3/2009 - Polkowice 75, Krakow 66

For Iziane Castro Marques's team, there's still the Euroleague semifinals to take care of on April 9th. However, in Poland...Krakow's season is over. With a 75-66 loss in Polkowice, Krakow has been eliminated from the Polish league post-season.

The box score is here.

One fan joked: "Wisla Can-Pack Krakow - fourth best team in Europe...and fifth best team in Poland". Krakow got off to a great start in the first quarter, leading 19-13 after the first quarter. Unfortunately, Krakow was held to just 12 second quarter points and trailed 38-31 at halftime. After that, Polkowice needed to hold out during the second half, and it appears that Krakow always trailed behind in the second half, never really making a serious push to overcome Polkowice.

The player that put Polkowice over the top was Amisha Carter, a Louisiana Tech graduate who led Polkowice with 20 points and 14 rebounds, fouling out in the fourth quarter after 35 minutes. Natalija Trofimowa scored 22 points and eight rebounds, and Shannon Bobbitt only score two points but had six assists.

As for Krakow, only five players scored. Ewelina Kobryn led with 16 points and seven rebounds, and Janell Burse scored 14 points and nine rebounds. But the rest of the team! Liren Cohen has zero points and three assists in 19 minutes of play. And Iziane Castro Marques had a horrible game for Krakow:

10 points
4-for-18 shooting
4 rebounds
1 assist
33 minutes of play

PLKK Quarterfinals 2/2009 - Krakow 83, Polkowice 61

In the best-of-three series, Krakow went back home to play #4 seed Polkowice needing a win to avoid elimination. It was very tight for the first thirty minutes but Krakow pulled out an 83-61 win in the fourth quarter on Wednesday. The series heads back to Polkowice on Saturday for its deciding game.

The box score is here.

The first half of the game was virtually a dead heat, with Krakow leading 35-34 at the end of the second quarter. The game began to tilt in Krakow's direction with Krakow leading 62-56 at the end of the third, but that wasn't enough to ensure a win. What did ensure the victory was Krakow holding Polkowice to just five fourth-quarter points. Polkowice's coach complained about the officiating, but all Polkowice could do was helplessly watch Krakow seal the Game Two victory.

Nadia Parker of Polkowice was injured in a third-quarter collision with Dorota Gburczyk. I believe she was hauled off the court around 2:13 of the video above. Odds are, she might not be available for Game Three in Polkowice.

Amisha Carter led Polkowice with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Shannon Bobbitt followed with 13 points and four assists.

The player of the game was Janell Burse who had 22 points and eight rebounds for Krakow. Ewelina Kobryn added 20 points and Agnieszka Majewska scored 16.

Iziane Castro Marques had an good game:

14 points
6-for-13 shooting
6 rebounds
6 assists
33 minutes played

PLKK Quarterfinals 1/2009 - Polkowice 83, Krakow 78

Iziane Castro Marques can't stop Daria Mieloszyńska's 21 points.

Eight teams go into the Polish post-season, including #4 seed Polkowice and #5 seed Krakow. The series is a best-of-three. If that's true, then Krakow is going to regret losing home field advantage as home team Polkowice wins 83-78 in Game 1.

The box score is here. A gallery of game images can also be found here.

I don't have information about the play-by-play. Krakow started off well, leading 25-14 after the first quarter, but Polkowice won each of the remaining quarters. Krakow still had a 42-41 lead going into halftime, and over the third quarter Polkowice and Krakow ended up tied after thirty minutes, 61-61.

Shannon Bobbitt scored 21 points for Polkowice, but Daria Mieloszyńska added not only 21 points but six rebounds as well. Amisha Carter had 11 points and 10 rebounds but shot 4-for-15 for Polkowice. Carter played for both the Mystics and the Liberty, Carter's final year in the WNBA being 2005.

Liron Cohen scored eight points and nine assists in the loss by Krakow. Janell Burse was the player of the game with 24 points and nine rebounds, but Iziane Castro Marques had a great game as well:

25 points
9-for-17 shooting
3-for-4 3-points shooting
4 rebounds
4 assists
34 minutes of play

The two teams meet again in Krakow on Wednesday for Game 2.

PLKK 26/2009 - Krakow 91, Pruszkow 78

So how far will Krakow go in the post-season?

The regular season in Polish women's basketball ended on Wednesday. In their final regular season game, Krakow defeated Pruszkow 91-78 at home. Unfortunately, Krakow finished at 17-7 and tied with Polkowice...but Polkowice finished fourth, Krakow finished fifth and with eight teams in the quarterfinals, Krakow will not earn home field advantage.

The box score is here. A gallery of game images can also be found here.

According to the write-up on the PLKK site, the game seemed over at the end of the first, with Krakow taking a 23-14 lead. Ashley Shields helped Pruszkow make a mini-comeback in the second quarter, and closed the gap to five points, 47-42 at halftime. However, Krakow was firmly in control in the second half and the Krakow coach emptied the bench in the fourth quarter.

Krakow takes on Polkowice on Saturday in Game 1 of the PLKK Quarterfinals. I don't know how the Polish post-season works, so we'll make it up as we go along.

The player of the game was clearly Ashley Shields, who scored 34 points (!!!) and eight rebounds in 35 minutes of play. She was fouled nine times during the game, and Shields scored 10 points at the free throw line. Joanna Górzyńska-Szymczak added 14 points and five rebounds.

Janelle Burse carried the burden for Krakow, scoring 19 points in 25 minutes of play. Among other players breaking double-digits were Marta Fernandez with 13 points and Dorota Gburczyk with 11 points.

Iziane Castro Marques only played for 21 minutes but made quite an impact.

17 points
6-for-9 shooting
3-for-3 from 3-point range
2 rebounds
21 minutes of play

PLKK 23/2009 - Krakow 78, Gorzow 77

Despite all of the hullabaloo about Krakow making it to the semifinals of Euroleague, the queens of the Polish League were Gorzow. Krakow wasn't likely to beat Ros Casares, Ekaterinburg or Spartak Moscow for a Euroleague title but Gorzow were definitely the favorites to go undefeated. They had already mathematically secured the regular season title and first place in the season. They had nothing to worry about, right?

Not anymore. Krakow went to Gorzow and beat them 78-77, ending Gorzow's perfect record. Gorzow falls to 22-1 and Krakow goes to 16-7. Depending on how Polkowice does, Krakow could move up to 4th place in the league and gain home field advantage in the opening round of the playoffs - Krakow only has three regular season games left.

The box score is here.

There's no write-up of the game just yet - this is "hot off the press" - but someone wrote that Janell Burse had 11 points and 11 rebounds in just 11 minutes. Despite that, Gorzow was in control of the game early, leading 26-19 after the first quarter and 51-40 at halftime.

However, Krakow came fighting back. They would win the third quarter by five points and close the gap to 62-56 at the end of thirty minutes. I'm reading this person who live-blogged the game in Poland and apparently:

Great defense score, did not finish the action. Marques and already only 74:73 50 seconds to end

74:75 Kobryn, but three Żurooooowskaaaaaaa !!!!!!!!!!!! 77:75 for 14 seconds before the end. Links Vistula, smells OT

All the standing odlądają tip !!!!! Fernandez for three. Unlikely ... less than two seconds to the end. Will we live?

It looks like Marta Fernandez hit a 3-pointer with less than two seconds left in the game that put Krakow up to stay.

Liudmila Sapova led Gorzow with 19 points. Justyna Żurowska scored18 points, four rebounds and two assists for Gorzow. Sidney Spencer would add 10 points for the home team.

For the visiting Krakow team, Janell Burse had an amazing game - 15 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out. (Burse only played 23 minutes.) Marta Fernandez made the game-winning shot scoring 20 points with 3-for-4 three-point shooting.

The other player to carry the burden for Krakow? Iziane Castro Marques:

16 points
7-for-14 shooting
4 rebounds
29 minutes played

Highlights of Euroleague Quarterfinals: Krakow vs. Brno

This is how highlights should be done:

* The bus arrives.
* Clapping in unison.
* Great basketball.
* Actual BURN IT WITH FIRE from the fans about six minutes in the first clip!
* Actual BURN IT WITH FIRE from the players about seven minutes in!
* Unidentified mascots in the first minute of the second clip.

(Thanks to the Painel do Basquete Femenino blog for cluing me in to these clips.)

Euroleague Quarterfinals 3/2009 - Krakow 78, Brno 73

Iziane is on her way to a Euroleague semifinal.

Erika de Souza, meet Iziane Castro Marques. Krakow wins their Euroleague series against Czech team Brno by winning Game 3 of the best-of-three series at home, 78-73 in front of 2200 spectators. The win sets up a Ros Casares-Krakow Euroleague semifinal, where the two Atlanta Dream players and Brazilian stars will play against each other.

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

It was an extremely tight game to start with - no team could get a lead of more than three points ahead of the other in the first quarter, which ended 26-24 in favor of Krakow. Karkow managed to put themselves back up by five points on two free throws by Iziane, 34-29, but Brno erased the lead with six straight points. With 45 seconds left, Liren Cohen hit the final two shots of the first half to give Krakow a 47-45 halftime lead.

In the third, with Krakow ahead 57-55 with four minutes left, Krakow put together a 6-0 run that gave them a 63-55 lead, the biggest in the game. DeWanna Bonner hit a pair of free throws for Brno, but Krakow took a 63-57 lead into the final ten minutes.

The question was could Brno fight back? Bonner was still good at the free throw line and she helped Brno come back to a 65-65 tie with 5:40 left. However, Krakow went on an 8-0 run taking them to a 73-65 lead with 3:28 left. Brno stayed in striking distance, and with Krakow up 76-70, Jelena Skerovic hit a 3-pointer that brought Brno back to 76-73 with 32 seconds left. Unfortunately for Brno, Krakow got the ball back and with 12 seconds left, Marta Fernandez hit a jumper that put Krakow up by five points and Brno could get nothing else going.

Taj McWilliams led Brno with 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists. DeWanna Bonner added seven points and eight rebounds in the losing effort.

The clear player of the game was Janell Burse who scored 20 points on 10-for-17 shooting. Iziane Castro Marques scored 14 points, but had an average game:

14 points
5-for-13 shooting
3 rebounds
4 assists
35 minutes played

Drama Over (Maybe) in Brazil; Paulo Bassul Out as Brazilian Coach

It has been confirmed by Hortencia Marcari, the women's basketball director of the Brazilian Basketball Foundation and by former head coach Paulo Bassul that there will be a new head coach of the Brazilian women's basketball team.

Carlos Colina will be the new head coach - at least for the next six months. Carlos is from Spain.

Hortencia stated that Iziane Castro Marques was not the reason for the change in coaching. It's been a drama for two years now, ever since Paulo Bassul took Iziane out of a game and then Iziane refused to go back in again. Iziane made it quite clear that she wouldn't return to the Brazilian women's team as long as Bassul was the coach.

Now the big question - will Iziane wear green and gold again? And what kind of reception will her teammates give her?

(Information from the Painel do Basquete Femenino, the ultimate Brazilian women's basketball blog.)

Iziane Castro Marques and the Player Mailbag

Iziane sent us this picture, but I don't think she took it herself.

The Atlanta Dream website asks Iziane Castro Marques a few questions while she's in Poland:

An excerpt:

What are you looking forward to about returning to Atlanta this summer?

I am definitely looking forward to seeing my teammates, coaches and staff and of course the fans back at Philips Arena! I know that we have a long way to go and a lot of work to accomplish our goal this year, but we are capable of doing great things and picking up where we left off last season.

Iziane also sent some pictures from her games. Take a peek!

Friday's Euroleague Games

Ekaterinburg 65, Good Angels Kosice 60. Ekaterinburg wins the second game of the best-of-three series, knocking out Angel McCoughtry's Good Angels Kosice team.

According to Angel McCoughtry, ""It was a very good match. It was difficult, but I'm very proud of my teammates. We played well against a very tough opponent." The Good Angels were down by only one point after three quarters (42-41) and led 43-42 after a layup by McCoughtry, but after that the closest the Good Angels could get was two points. McCoughtry scored 16 points and had six rebounds in the loss.

Brno 87, Krakow 72. Brno's 87-72 win over Krakow in the Czech Republic forces a game three of the best-of three seres. Brno won every quarter and led by as many as 24 in the final ten minutes. Iziane Castro Marques led KRakwo with 19 points. Taj McWilliams had 20 points and nine rebounds for Brno.

Ros Casares 63, Perfumerias 57. Ros Casares sweeps the series 2-0, defeating Perfumerias on their home court. Tied at 57-57 with three minutes left, Perfumerias didn't score for the rest of the game.

Erika de Souza led Ros Casares with 21 points and eight rebounds. Her Atlanta Dream teammate, Sancho Lyttle had 17 points and 10 minutes.

Euroleague Quarterfinals 1/2009 - Krakow 78, Brno 74

Iziane Castro Marques was definitely needed in the Euroleague quarterfinals series against Brno - everyone was going to be needed, because most Euroleague observers figured this to be a close game. Krakow came back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter and an exciting final two minutes ended with Krakow winning 78-74 in Poland in front of 2000 spectators.

The game report, box score, and play-by-play is here. There's no gallery of pics, not yet, anyway, but we do have...some film! (Check out Iziane Castro Marques at about 44 seconds in.)

Brno took the lead early in the first quarter but Krakow came back to tie the score at 19-19. DeWanna Bonner and Hollie Grima provided the offense punch for the Czechs and led 43-34 at halftime. Brno maintained the two-point lthrough most of the third quarter and led 62-56 at the end of thirty minutes.

Krakow came back. They held Brno to just five points in the first five minutes of the final quarter and retook the lead, 70-69. With four minutes left, Eva Viteckova hit a 3-pointer for Brno that tied the game at 72-72.

For the next four minutes, both teams tried to make something happen. Brno could get the rebounds, but couldn't take a shot. Krakow took shot after shot, and missed most of them. However, with Krakow up 76-74, Janell Burse hit a jumper with 16 seconds left that put Krakow up 78-74. With 10 seconds left, DeWanna Bonner tried to hit a 3-pointer for Brno, but Krakow got the rebound and the win.

Brno was led by Eva Viteckova's 22 points. DeWanna Bonner scored 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Taj McWilliams scored eight points and 10 rebounds.

Krakow had three players score 18 points. Janlle Burse shot 8-for-11 with 12 rebounds; Ewelina Kobryn shot 8-for-12 with 11 rebounds.

Iziane Castro Marques had 18 points in 26 minutes:

18 points
7-for-17 shooting
2-for-7 from 3-point range
3 rebounds
26 minutes