When away from their home countries, players find it hard to adjust from time to time. Matee Ajavon in her Twitter account (@ajavon2you2) wrote: “Overseas can be rough at times — being away – isolated –missing the fam — missing comfort –missing –.” Cierra Burdick (@C_Burdick11) fought the boredom by making a video.
Dream fans are thinking about you Ajavon, Burdick, and others. This week’s Dream Overseas Report catches up with them as we let them all know that they are out of sight, but not out of mind.
Matee Ajavon
(Energa Torun, Poland)
Saturday did not turn out to be a pleasant day for Ajavon’s team in Poland as they went on the road and were thumped by Artego Bydg 84-49. This was an ugly game dominated at the start by the home squad from beginning to end. Torun only scored seven points in the third quarter and their opponents shot 56 percent for the game. Amisha Carter, who played with the New York Liberty way back in 2005, had 22 points/11 rebounds for the winners and Julie McBride from Syracuse had 13 points/8 rebounds/11 assists. She had more assists by herself (11) than Torun (9) did as a team.
Ajavon scored nine points but had eight turnovers. Polish national Joanna Walich led Torun with 12 points. Shae Kelley added six points in 14 minutes played.
The loss drops Torun to a tie for eighth place at 2-6.
Box score Energa Torun-Artego Bydg: http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Poland/2015/1107_14348_9826.asp?women=1
Gallery of game images:
http://www.radiopik.pl/4,37700,derby-wojewodztwa-dla-koszykarek-z-bydgoszczy-zd
Cierra Burdick
(Napoli, Italy)
Burdick’s Napoli team moves to 2-0 in Eurocup competition with a 68-60 home win over Czech team Valosun Brno. I’m surprised that the Eurocup website doesn’t have a box score of this game. Valosun was down by 11 points going into the final quarter and never caught up.
Valosun complained that “Italian organizers have not mastered the game, the board did not work, time was measured in the display 24 are not processed nor statistics … Organization staying from local officials, however, ensure an excellent level of acceptance and very friendly.” (Thanks to Google Translate.) That could be why we have no box score.
Gintara Petronyte led Napoli with 17 points, followed by Jelena Ivezic with 16 for the winners. Burdick had 10 points and Noelle Quinn had six. For Valosun, Veronika Vikova led with 14 points and Lenita Sanford (UNLV, 2012) had 13 in the loss.
This week in Eurocup Napoli faces the only other undefeated team in Group G, Hungarian team Miskolc. Miskolc is also at 2-0 and will be Napoli’s next international opponent. Eurocup teams play six games in their group with the top teams in each group of four teams advancing.
Back in Italy, Napoli had a rude arrival as they were crushed by Venezia on the road, 81-43. Napoli hit only 26 percent of its shots during the game and in the final quarter they were held to just five total points. Venezia had 17 assisted shots compared to just six by Napoli.
Caterina Dotta led Venezia with 15 points, followed by Karina Christmas with 14 points. Marie Ruckizova had 10 points/10 rebounds for Venezia.
The only player to score in double figures for Napoli was Petronyte with 14. Burdick was held to just four points and was 0-for-7 from the field. Quinn finished with five points and seven rebounds.
At 2-4, Napoli is in a tie for eighth place in the Italian league. Burdick is averaging 7.7 ppg/8.3 rpg.
Box score Napoli-Venezia:
http://lbf-web.dataproject-stats.com/Tabellino.asp?IdGara=15933
Complete game Napoli-Venezia :
Burdick’s boredom-fighting video:
When boredom strikes… #OverseasLife #AwayGame #HotelChronicles pic.twitter.com/Epf8BkWBJH
— Cierra Burdick (@C_Burdick11) November 7, 2015
Sydney Carter
(TTT Riga, Latvia)
Carter’s Riga team is showing that it belongs in Eurocup as they won their second game on the road against Swedish team Udominate by a 64-60 score. The game was tied 42-42 going into the final period. Carter was the difference, scoring 14 of her points in the final eight minutes. The other areas where Riga had the advantage over the Swedes were: blocked shots (8 vs. 1), points in the paint (30-15) and steals (13 v. 8).
Carter led all scorers on both teams with 29 points. Her teammate Kristen Mann had 12 points/12 rebounds. Hollie Mershom (Drexel, 2013) led Udominate with 16 points in the loss.
TTT Riga will finish the third of its six games in Group B this week as it takes on visiting Dynamo Moscow. Riga stands at 2-0 with Dynamo Moscow splitting its games at 1-1.
In the Latvian League, Riga clobbered the TTT Juniores 100-34 on Friday to move to 4-0 on the season. None of the foreign players were needed in that game and Carter did not play.
Box score TTT Riga-Udominate: http://www.fibaeurope.com/eurocupwomen/compID_Rn2Om4j3HOcXtTFwJWFsh3.season_2016.roundID_11803.gameID_11817-B-3-2.html
Carla Cortijo
(Gigantes de Carolina, Puerto Rico)
The semifinals (best of five) started on Friday with #1 seed Gigantes taking on #4 seed Morovis in the BSNF Playoffs. Gigantes won Game 1 by a 79-64 score. It was a very close game, with Morovis coming within a basket length multiple times, but always falling short.
Nine players would score in double figures – four for the winners and five for the losers. For Gigantes, Yolanda Jones led with 19 points/8 rebounds followed by Cortijo with 16 points/6 rebounds/7 assists. Pamela Rosado led Morovis with a triple-double of 20 points/11 rebounds/11 assists followed by Jennifer George (Florida, 2013) with 16 points/10 rebounds and Tamera Young of the Chicago Sky (and formerly of Atlanta) with 13 points.
Game 2 took place on Saturday with Gigantes winning again, 68-61. Morovis led 30-26 at halftime, but a 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter provided decisive for Gigantes with Cortijo finishing strong in the final ten minutes.
Jones had 18 points/14 rebounds for Gigantes with Cortijo scoring 16 points/6 rebounds. Tamera Young led all scorers with 24 points/12 rebounds in a losing effort.
On Monday, Gigantes completed a three-game sweep of Morovis to move to the BSNF Finals, winning 78-61 in Game 3. It is the sixth Finals appearance in seven years for a team that has won 11 titles since 1989. Gigantes will take an 11 game home streak into the Finals where they will play the winner of the Manatee-Mayaguez semifinal.
No box score yet from Game 3, but Cortijo had 19 points, followed by Jazmine Sepulveda with 15 points and Yolanda Jones with 14 points/10 rebounds for Gigantes. For Morovis Rosado had 20 points, Young had 13 points/16 rebounds and George had 12 points in the loss.
Box score Carolina-Morovis Semifinals Game 1: http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Puerto%20Rico/2015/1106_9342_9343.asp?women=1
Box score Carolina-Morovis Semfinals Game 2:
http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Puerto%20Rico/2015/1107_9343_9342.asp?women=1
Brief clips of Cortijo from Game 2:
Damiris Dantas
(Corinthians/Americana, Brazil)
No game scheduled. The Brazilian league should start the regular season on November 20.
Reshanda Gray
(Battipaglia, Italy)
Gray and her young team continue to struggle in the Italian league with a 65-58 loss on the road to Di Lupari. It was a very ugly game, with each team turning the ball over 22 times.
Gray led her team with 14 points/17 rebounds in the loss. Kourtney Treffers had 13 points/7 rebounds and Immaculata Zanoguera had 10.
For Di Lupari, Jasmine Bailey (Illinois-Chicago, 2012) led with 22 points/9 rebounds. Jori Davis (Indiana, 2011) had 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting.
Latest Blog Entry:
http://reshandagray.sportsblog.com/
Box score of Battipaglia-Di Lupari:
http://lbf-web.dataproject-stats.com/Tabellino.asp?IdGara=15931
Complete game Battipaglia-Di Lupari:
Tiffany Hayes
(Yakin Dogu, Turkey)
Hayes’s team went on the road to take on Eurocup participant Orduspor and lost 94-80. By the end of the first quarter, Orduspor had a 33-21 lead. It might have proved to be enough; there’s not much information I can find about this game.
Courtney Vandersloot of the Chicago Sky scored 22 points and six assists in the win. D’Andra Moss (VCU, 2010) also scored 22 points/11 rebounds in the Orduspor victory. Jelena Milovanovic added 19 points/7 rebounds to her team’s total.
Alyssa Thomas scored 26 points/16 rebounds for Yakin Dogu in 39 minutes of play. Kelsey Bone had 18 points/7 rebounds and Hayes added 11 points in 28 minutes of play.
Yakin Dogu is at 2-2 in the Turkish league and tied for sixth place.
Box score Yakin Dogu-Orduspor:
http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1359&Sezon=156
Aneika Henry, Angel McCoughtry
(Mersin, Turkey)
McCoughtry and Henry hosted Istanbul University and the home advantage was the charm, with Mersin winning 78-73. It was Istanbul U.’s first loss of the regular season. The game was tied 40-40 at halftime and from what little I know about the result both Henry and McCoughtry had good final quarters as both players finished with double-doubles.
McCoughtry had 32 points/10 rebounds for Mersin and Henry added 24 points/11 rebounds. Bria Hartley also had 13 points and five rebounds.
Tan White led the Istanbul University scorers with 24 points and Sasa Cado scored 22. Elizabeth Williams, the #4 overall pick of this year’s draft scored 14 points/6 rebounds.
Box score Mersin-Istanbul University:
http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1356&Sezon=156
Mersin team photo:
Mersin, maç sonunda yemekte. (Sol baştan: Angel McCoughtry, Ashley Key, Aneika Henry, Bria Hartley, Tuğba Taşçı) pic.twitter.com/WaHIJwxJHB
— JustWomensBasketball (@JWsBasketball) November 8, 2015
McCoughtry enjoying a drink:
Angel McCoughtry, Mersin’in meşhur Atom’unu tattı. pic.twitter.com/7agyxSHGqP
— JustWomensBasketball (@JWsBasketball) November 5, 2015
Sancho Lyttle
(UMMC, Ekaterinburg)
On Thursday, UMMC moved to 4-0 in Group B of Euroleague with a very close 75-70 home win against visiting Belgian club Castors Braine. The game was tied at 67-67 with four minutes left and Braine closed it to 71-70 off a three-pointer by Marjorie Carpreaux. But the Belgians would have to send UMMC to the foul line to get the ball back and the home team hit its free throws. UMMC was held to just 38 percent shooting but made 17 free throws compared to just three from Castors Braine.
Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner combined for 48 points and 17 rebounds, splitting the stats almost perfect, with Griner getting the spare rebound. Lyttle only played for 17 minutes and scored just two points.
The legendary Ann Wauters had 17 points/9 assists for Castors Braine in the loss. Elin Eldebrink contributed 14 points/8 assists to the visiting team’s total.
UMMC won their game on Monday against visiting Dynamo-Moscow 71-34, but Lyttle did not play in that game. In four games, she has averaged 11 ppg/8.5 rpg. Her UMMC team currently stands at 6-0 in the Russian league, tied with Nadezhda Orenburg.
Box score UMMC-Castors Braine: http://www.fibaeurope.com/euroleaguewomen/compID_jr6ZiXqeGhMBtfq1yxqV83.season_2016.roundID_11804.gameID_11814-B-15-4.html
Complete game UMMC-Castors Braine: