February 1 marked the start of the free agency period in the WNBA.  Teams have started re-signing players and building rosters for the 2016 season, and the Dream is no exception.  On Tuesday, Atlanta made its first move by securing the services of Tiffany Hayes who signed a multi-year deal with the team.

http://dream.wnba.com/news/atlanta-dream-resigns-tiffany-hayes/

It didn’t stop there.  On Tuesday, the Dream made a big move with a trade to the Connecticut Sun.  Atlanta swapped its No. 4 pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft to the Sun in exchange for acquiring Elizabeth Williams.  Williams was the No. 4 in the 2015 WNBA Draft for the Sun last year. She played in 21 games during her rookie season – averaging 3.3 ppg/3.2 rpg in 21 games played over 11.7 minutes per contest.

http://dream.wnba.com/news/dream-sends-no-4-pick-to-connecticut-for-elizabeth-williams/

On Wednesday, the Dream welcomed back the services of free agent Carla Cortijo.  Cortijo is a point guard who hails from Puerto Rico and played collegiately at Texas (2005-09).  She signed with Atlanta for the final two games of last season.

http://dream.wnba.com/news/dream-inks-unrestricted-free-agent-carla-cortijo/

As Dream fans wait anxiously for future signings, last year’s Dream players are still at work overseas as the international domestic leagues are in the second halves of their regular seasons.  A couple of Atlanta players got the weekend off, one player’s team broke a long-standing losing streak with the help of an ex-Dream team member, one player scored 27 points in a game and one player had a huge double-double against a Spanish squad.  To find out the names of those players, catch up with this week’s Dream overseas wrap-up.

Matee Ajavon

(Energa Torun, Poland)

The Polish Cup games took place last weekend.  Since Energa Torun has been eliminated from contention, Matee Ajavon had the weekend off.  Domestic league play will resume this coming weekend.

Cierra Burdick

(Napoli, Italy)

On Sunday, Napoli took on visiting Italian power Famila Schio and lost 72-61 to fall to7-10 on the regular season.  Napoli is in a tie for seventh place in the Italian league with Umbertide.

Schio took the early lead, but a 15-0 run by Napoli put them up briefly 40-39 in the third quarter and kept them within three, down 47-44 at the end of the quarter.  Burdick’s work in the fourth quarter allowed Napoli to close to within two, 55-53 but Schio sealed the win by following with a 9-0 run that killed Napoli’s momentum.

Napoli:  Burdick 24/11 reb, Gintare Petronyte 18/6 reb, Noelle Quinn 8/7 reb.

Famila Schio:  Isabelle Yacoubou 20/7 reb, Giorgia Sottana 13, Laura Macchi 13, Martina Bestagno 11.

Box score Napoli/Famila Schio: 
http://lbf-web.dataproject-stats.com/Tabellino.asp?IdGara=16014

Sydney Carter

(TTT Riga, Latvia)

In a Second Stage regular season game, TTT Riga beat Catz 69-56.  Carter, however, did not play in this game.  She could still be recovering from the flu.

Damiris Dantas

(Corinthinans, Brazil)

A big shout out to Paul Swanson of Minnesota Lynx fame, who tipped me off that Dantas has now returned to play in Brazil – I suppose that left tibia stress fracture was a minor one!  She returned to play in back to back games against bottom-dwelling Presidente Venceslau on January 21 and January 22^nd.  In her return, Corinthians won 87-51 with Dantas contributing 20 points and two rebounds.   In the second game, she had 26 points and five rebounds in an 82-59 win.

Corinthians is now tied for first place in the Brazilian league at 7-1 with America de Recife.  The next games for Corinthians are on February 4 and February 5 against America de Recife.  The regular season of the Brazilian league ends on April 2.  Dantas’s stat line has now been added to the summary below, and I’ll keep an eye on her with future updates.

Reshanda Gray

(Battipaglia, Italy)

On Sunday Battipaglia hosted Lucca, the team at the top of the Italian league standings.  They managed to lose only by ten points, 71-61.  Battipaglia is at 6-11 in the Italian league, in tenth place out of 14 teams.

Battipaglia actually led for long stretches of the game, leading 33-27 at halftime and shot 55 percent for the game.  So why did Battipaglia lose?  Turnovers.  The home squad had a ridiculous 30 turnovers for the game, allowing Lucca to sneak back into the game and claim the win.

Battipaglia:  Kourtney Treffers 19/7 reb, Asia Boyd 15, Gray 10/11 reb.

Lucca:  Jillian Harmon (Stanford 2009) 25/9 reb, Julie Wotja 17, Francesca Dotto 13/5 stl.

Box score Battipaglia/Lucca: 
http://lbf-web.dataproject-stats.com/Tabellino.asp?IdGara=16013

Tiffany Hayes

(Yakin Dogu, Turkey)

On Saturday, January 30, Yakin Dogu finally broke a nine-game losing streak with a decisive 86-65 win against Orduspor.  The win moves Yakin Dogu to 5-12 and eleventh place in the Turkish league standings.

Part of the reason for Yakin Dogu’s success was the acquisition of Yelena Leuchanka.  Leuchanka played for the Atlanta Dream in 2010 and 2012, and transferred from Guangdong in the Chinese league to Turkey.

Yakin Dogu:  Alyssa Thomas 27/11 reb, Hayes 22/5 reb, Kelsey Bone 12/8 reb/5 ast, Yelena Leuchanka 11.

Orduspor:  Elin Eldebrink 18/5 reb/5 ast, Tierra Ruffin-Pratt 12, Tijana Krivacevic 11, Clarissa Dos Santos 10/13 reb.

Box score Yakin Dogu/Orduspor: 
http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1446&Sezon=156#

Aneika Henry/Angel McCoughtry

(Mersin, Turkey)

On Sunday, Mersin went on the road to Istanbul Univ and won 82-76.  The win puts Mersin in a tie for fourth place at 12-5 with Abdullah Gul.  As for Istanbul Univ, the team of new Dream acquisition Elizabeth Williams?  That team falls to 9-8 on the year.

This was a two-player game for Mersin, as Henry and McCoughtry combined for 53 of the team’s total points and almost half of its total rebounds.  Mersin eclipsed the home squad in total rebounding, 41/29.  Not much online about this game, but quarter-by-quarter it looks like it was tightly contested.

Mersin:  McCoughtry 27/6 reb, Henry 26/13 reb, Marina Kuzina 12/9 reb.

Istanbul Univ:  Sasa Cado 22, Tan White 19/9 reb/8 ast, Viktoria Mercheva 14, Williams 8/7 reb.

Box score Mersin/Istanbul Univ: 
http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1450&Sezon=156

Sancho Lyttle

(UMMC, Ekaterinburg)

On Wednesday, January 27, UMMC moved to 10-2 overall in Group B in Euroleague with an 80-61 win over visiting Spanish team Girona.  Seven of the eight Euroleague quarterfinals teams have already been determined, with UMMC clinching their spot last week.  Girona managed to get within 10 points late at 69-59 with 4:49 left in the game but UMMC slammed the door with authority, scoring eleven of the next thirteen points.

Stat of the game:  UMMC had eight blocked shots to zero for Girona.  Another candidate for the state of the game is the points/assists double-double from Taurasi.

UMMC:  Diana Taurasi 23/11 ast, Lyttle 18/16 reb/5 stl, Brittney Griner 15/4 blk, Kristi Toliver 12/5 ast.

Girona:  Chrissy Givens  (MTSU 2007) 17/7 reb, Noemi Jordana 12/6 TO, Artemis Spanou 10/5 reb.

In domestic league play on Sunday UMMC remains undefeated at 15-0 after beating visiting Enisey 78-40.  Enisey was held to 24.5 percent shooting and out-rebounded 47 to 33.  UMMC won every quarter of the game.

UMMC:  Brittney Griner 17/7 reb, Lyttle 12/7 reb (23 minutes played), Alba Torrens 11/6 reb, Natalia Vieru 10/14 reb.

Enisey:  Ekaterina Kiryanova 12, Maryia Papova 5.

Box score UMMC/Girona: 
http://www.fibaeurope.com/euroleaguewomen/compID_jr6ZiXqeGhMBtfq1yxqV83.season_2016.roundID_11804.gameID_11814-B-46-12.html

Box score UMMC/Enisey: 
http://www.russiabasket.ru/game/?id=110006&compId=11004&tab=0

Complete game UMMC/Girona: 

Elizabeth Williams

(Istanbul Univ, Turkey)

For more information about Elizabeth Williams’s performance, see the write-up under Aneika Henry/Angel McCoughtry.

 

CURRENT OVERALL STATISTICS

Matee Ajavon (Poland):  13 games, 13.6 ppg/3.8 rpg/4.6 apg

Cierra Burdick (Eurocup **):  8 games, 10.1 ppg/10.3 rpg/1.4 apg

Cierra Burdick (Italy):  17 games, 10.9 ppg/8.8 rpg/1.4 apg

Sydney Carter (Eurocup **):  10 games, 15.9 ppg/3.0 rpg/3.2 apg

Sydney Carter (Latvia):  8 games, 10.3 ppg/2.5 rpg/3.6 apg

Sydney Carter (EEWBL):  7 games, 9.1 ppg/2.0 rpg/2.1 apg

Damiris Dantas (Brazil):  2 games, 23.0 ppg/3.5 rpg/0.5 apg

Reshanda Gray (Italy):  17 games, 15.9 ppg/10.8 rpg/0.9 apg

Tiffany Hayes (Turkey):  17 games, 19.1 ppg/4.5 rpg/2.4 apg

Aneika Henry (Turkey): 17 games, 15.9 ppg/10.8 rpg/2.4 apg

Sancho Lyttle (Euroleague):  12 games, 7.3 ppg/7.2 rpg/0.9 apg

Sancho Lyttle (Russia):  10 games, 12.2 ppg/8.0 rpg/2.1 apg

Angel McCoughtry (Turkey):  16 games, 25.0 ppg/7.3 rpg/3.6 apg

Elizabeth Williams (Turkey):  14 games, 13.4 ppg/10.5 rpg/1.5 apg

** – Eurocup season complete