Last night, the Connecticut Huskies added a new trophy to their collection by winning the NCAA women’s basketball championship.  April is championship month not just in the USA but overseas as well as most of the foreign women’s leagues are in the process of wrapping up their regular seasons or starting the postseason.  Pro players have their suitcases packed if worse comes to worse, but all want to head back to the U.S. soon and add some hardware to their own trophy cases.

Three Atlanta Dream players were busy with their own playoff drama.  Two players will stay a little longer overseas as their squads triumphed in domestic league playoff competition.

To find out just what happened last week at the highest levels of overseas women’s basketball, check out this week’s Dream Overseas Report.

Matee Ajavon

(Energa Torun, Poland)

Postseason play started in Poland with a three-game series between No. 2 seed Wisla Krakow and No. 7 seed Energa Torun.

In Game One last Wednesday, Ajavon gave an incredible performance but couldn’t lift Torun past Krakow as they fell short at home 62-58.  Down 56-46 in the fourth quarter, Ajavon scored ten of Energa Torun’s next twelve points to give her team a fighting chance at a win. The game was tied at 58-58 with 1:12 left but errors from Torun sent Yvonne Turner to the free throw line where she hit all four of her attempts.

Energa Torun: Ajavon 23/9 reb, Ivona Bogoje 9, Emilia Tlumak 6, Renee Taylor 5/6 ast.

Wisla Krakow:  Denesha Stallworth 14, Yvonne Turner 13, Magdalena Ziatara 11, Laura Nicholls 2/12 reb.

Game Two took place on Saturday at Torun with the home team needing a win to stay alive. Unfortunately, Wisla Krakow’s 88-72 win ended Torun’s hope of a championship with Wisla sweeping the playoff series two games to none.

Wisla Krakow won every quarter of Game Two and led virtually the entire game.  Ajavon had a second standout game with the best performance of the day but it just wasn’t enough.  It was an ugly game with 42 personal fouls and 38 turnovers from both teams, but Krakow shot 55 percent for the game and hit 19 of 21 free throw attempts to end Energa Torun’s season.

Energa Torun:  Ajavon 22/6 reb/7 ast, Renee Taylor 15, Paulina Misiek 14, Emilia Tlumak 10.

Wisla Krakow:  Denesha Stallworth 21, Justyna Cigielska 20, Yvonne Turner 13/6 ast, Laura Nicholls 10/7 reb.

Box score Energa Torun-Wisla Krakow (Game One): 

http://basketligakobiet.pl/mecz/41640/wisla-can-pack-krakow—energa-torun.html

Box score Energa Torun-Wisla Krakow (Game Two): 

http://basketligakobiet.pl/mecz/41644/energa-torun—wisla-can-pack-krakow.html

Complete game Energa Torun-Wisla Krakow (Game One): 

Complete game Energa Torun-Wisla Krakow (Game Two):  

 

Cierra Burdick

(Napoli, Italy)

Burdick’s Napoli team does not play again until April 10.

 

Damiris Dantas

(Corinthians, Brazil)

The regular season has come to an end in Brazil, with two games played by Corinthians on Wednesday and Saturday.

Last Wednesday Corinthians won the first of their two games against Recife by an 80-71 score.  The win secured first place for Corinthians in the regular season.  Down 57-55 going into the fourth period, Karla Costa’s play helped Corinthians take a 67-63 lead that put Corinthians up for good.

Corinthians:  Gilmara Justino 21, Dantas 18/6 reb, Izabella Frederico 11, Karla Martins 10.

Recife: Erika de Souza 16/5 reb, Jennifer Lacy 16, Tatiane Nascimento 13/6 reb, Kelly Santos 10.

In the final game of the regular season on Saturday Corinthians squeezed by with a 76-73 win.  Corinthians finished with a 17-3 record and moves forward to the playoffs with the No. 1 seed.  In the final quarter, Recife scored ten straight points to take a 73-70 lead but back-to-back plays from Melisa Greter and Dantas put Corinthians back in the lead 76-73.  Recife had a chance to tie in the final moments, but Jennifer Lacy’s 3-point attempt fell short.

Corinthians:  Joice Rodrigues 16, Yayma Boulet 15/8 reb, Karla Martins 11, Dantas 10/9 reb.

Recife:   Erika de Souza 19/12 reb, Jennifer Lacy 10, Taina Paixao 9.

Box score Corinthians/Recife (Wednesday): 

http://ligadebasquetefeminino.com.br/relatorio/?id=555

Box score Corinthians/Recife (Saturday): 

http://ligadebasquetefeminino.com.br/relatorio/?id=557

 

Reshanda Gray

(Battipaglia, Italy)

On Sunday, Reshanda Gray’s Battipaglia squad traveled to Meighan Simmons’s Umbertide squad in a battle between two players destined to meet again in the Dream’s preseason training camp.  Umbertide got the best of this battle with a 94-65 win.  With one regular season game to go, Umbertide’s 11-14 record clinches them a spot in the post-season.

Battipaglia falls to 9-16, and unfortunately a win next week on the road against Torino will not get them to the playoffs.  An 18-0 run by Umbertide early in the game put Battipaglia away for good, as Umbertide won every quarter.  Umbertide hit 14 of 30 3-point attempts and Battipaglia only had a single assist.

Battipaglia:  Asia Boyd 16, Marzia Tagliamento 16, Gray 11/9 reb.

Umbertide:  Simmons 26, Alessia Cabrini 19, Wumi Agunbiade 18/8 reb, Ilaria Milazzo 14.

Box score Battipaglia-Umbertide: 

http://lbf-web.dataproject-stats.com/Tabellino.asp?IdGara=16066

 

Tiffany Hayes

(Yakin Dogu, Turkey)

Last Wednesday Yakin Dogu went on the road against Botas and won 76-67 to advance their record to 9-16 in the regular season with one game to go.   Yakin Dogu is in eleventh place in the Turkish league, with the top eight teams going to the post season, and the two bottom teams in positions No. 13 and No. 14 relegated to a lower league.  Yakin Dogu still has a lot to fight for when they face No. 13 Adana ASKI on April 6.

Yakin Doug had a decisive +15 rebounding margin over Botas and shot 47 percent.

Yakin Dogu:  Kelsey Bone 24/7 reb, Alyssa Thomas 20/11 reb, Hayes 18/7 reb, Yelena Leuchanka 9/10 reb.

Botas:  Evanthia Maltsi 19/8 reb, Milica Jovanovich 18, Avery Warley 12/7 reb.

Box score Yakin Dogu-Botas: 

http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1505&Sezon=156

 

Roneeka Hodges

(Miskolc, Hungary)

Last Wednesday, Miskolc began its best-of-three series against No. 7 Atomeromu in the quarterfinals of the Hungarian postseason.  Miskolc led 41-24 at halftime and was almost perfect from the free throw line hitting 24 of 26 attempts, making up for a -14 rebounding margin.

Miskolc:  Dora Horti 16/6 reb, Timea Czank 13, Tatsiana Likhtarovich 12, Hodges 5.

Atomeromu:  Jade Barber (Eastern Kentucky 2013) 15/15 reb/5 ast, Kateryna Remarkeno 12/8 reb, Alexandra Theodorean 10.

On Saturday, Atomeromu squeaked by with a 62-61 overtime win in Game Two to tie the series at one game each.  Alyssia Brewer was out of that game for Miskolc due to an ankle injury.

Miskolc: Tatsiana Likhtarovich 18, Rita Rasheed 13, Hodges 4, Dora Horti 3/12 reb.

Atomeromu: Kateryna Remarenko 22/15 reb, Maja Skecic 14, Jade Barber 8/10 reb.

It would all be decided on Tuesday with a 76-68 victory by Miskolc to clinch the series two games to one.  Miskolc opened up a double digit lead at the beginning of the second quarter and didn’t relinquish it until the final minutes of play with the game well under control.  Both teams combined for 51 personal fouls in a tough game with 49 total free throws from both sides.  Miskolc only took 53 shots but hit 24 of them, including eight 3-point shots.

Miskolc will now move on to the semifinals.

Miskolc:  Orsolya Scezsi 20/11 reb, Hodges 16, Timea Czank 15, Dora Horti 6/10 reb.

Atomeromu:  Kateryna Remarenko 16, Agnes Studer 13, Jade Barber 12/16 reb, Anna Mansare 10.

Box score Miskolc-Atomeromu (Game One): 

http://kosarsport.hu/game/whun_ply/x1516/whun_ply_2

Box score Miskolc-Atomeromu (Game Two): 

http://kosarsport.hu/game/whun_ply/x1516/whun_ply_6

Box score Miskolc-Atomeromu (Game Three):

http://kosarsport.hu/game/whun_ply/x1516/whun_ply_10

Complete game Miskolc-Atomeromu (Game One): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDVcnImmUco

Highlights Miskolc-Atomeromu (Game Three):

 

Sancho Lyttle

(UMMC, Ekaterinburg)

The Russian domestic league playoff quarterfinals started on Saturday with top seed UMMC going on the road to play No. 8 seed Dynamo-GUVD and winning decisively 99-39.  UMMC led 49-19 at halftime and won in a rout.

UMMC:  Emma Meesseman 18/7 reb, Brittney Griner 16, Eugenia Belyakova 14/8 reb/6 ast, Olga Arteshina 13/12 reb, Lyttle 11/7 reb, Tatiana Popova 11.

Dynamo-GUVD:  Miah-Marie Langlois 10, 24.1 percent team shooting.

Box score UMMC-Dynamo-GUVD:

http://www.russiabasket.ru/game/?id=114345&compId=11004&tab=1

 

Angel McCoughtry

(Mersin, Turkey)

Last Wednesday Mersin hosted Adana ASKI and was upset 67-47.  Mersin drops to 18-7 and is in third place in the Turkish league with one regular season game to go.  Mersin was only down 33-31 at halftime but Adana ASKI held Mersin to just 16 second half points.  McCoughtry did not play in the loss.

 

Meighan Simmons

(Umbertide, Italy)

Find out about Simmons’s performance on Sunday in the entry on Reshanda Gray.

 

Elizabeth Williams

(Istanbul Univ, Turkey)

Elizabeth Williams and Istanbul Univ played against Galatasaray last week and lost to the visitors 74-67.  Of Gala’s 74 points, 58 points were scored in the paint.  Istanbul Univ kept it close by hitting 11 of 26 3-point attempts.  The loss drops Istanbul Univ to 12-13 and sixth place in the Turkish league with one game remaining.

Istanbul Univ:  Tan White 19/10 reb, Sasa Cado 18, Viktoria Mercheva 10, Williams 6/7 reb/5 ast.

Galatasaray:  Jewell Loyd 16/6 reb, Ann Wauters 13/9 reb, Isil Alben 5/8 reb/6 ast.

Box score Istanbul Univ-Galatasaray: 

http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1501&Sezon=156

 

Overall Statistics

Matee Ajavon (Poland *):  21 games, 13.6 ppg/4.5 rpg/4.0 apg

Cierra Burdick (Italy):  25 games, 12.1 ppg/9.8 rpg/1.7 apg

Sydney Carter (Latvia/Estonia):  12 games, 10.3 ppg/2.6 rpg/3.5 apg

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

Damiris Dantas (Brazil):  14 games, 19.7 ppg/7.9 rpg/1.4 apg

Reshanda Gray (Italy):  25 games, 17.8 ppg/11.6 rpg/0.8 apg

Tiffany Hayes (Turkey):  25 games, 17.3 ppg/4.6 rpg/2.4 apg

Roneeka Hodges (Hungary – regular season):  4 games, 8.8 ppg/3.3 rpg/1.0 apg

Roneeka Hodges (Hungary – playoffs):  3 games, 8.3 ppg/3.3 rpg/0.7 apg

Sancho Lyttle (Euroleague):  16 games, 7.4 ppg/7.2 rpg/1.5 apg

Sancho Lyttle (Russia):  16 games, 12.6 ppg/8.3 rpg/2.3 apg

Angel McCoughtry (Turkey):  23 games, 24.3 ppg/7.6 rpg/3.6 apg

Meighan Simmons (Italy):  25 games, 22.0 ppg/3.9 rpg/1.2 apg

Elizabeth Williams (Turkey):  22 games, 13.0 ppg/9.7 rpg/1.4 apg

* – Season complete.