Atlanta Dream training camp is right around the corner, but in the meantime we have wall-to-wall basketball as it is March, which we just refer to here as the tune-up for the main event.

The NCAA women’s basketball tournament is down to its final 16 teams, as is the men’s side.  Of course, there is overseas women’s basketball.  Fans will want to pay close attention to whether or not the overseas pro teams of their favorite players make or miss the playoffs; it could be the difference between a player showing up on time or arriving late to training camp.

One Atlanta Dream player wrote on her blog about her season and another Atlanta Dream player scored 42 points in a single game, scoring half of her team’s total points!

Another Dream player plays for a Turkish team that might not make the postseason, while another player will be participating in her team’s domestic championship.  For all the details, check out this week’s report.

 

Matee Ajavon

(Energa Torun, Poland)

Saturday (March 19):   Energa Torun hosted struggling Gorzow in Polish league play and lost 79-71 to fall to 9-13.  This concludes Torun’s regular season as it finishes in seventh place.  It was down by double digits for most of the third quarter, but closed to within 57-56 in the fourth with 6:07 to go.

Down by two with four minutes left, Torun was outscored 18-8 over the final stretch.  The loss sets up a playoff quarterfinals match with No. 2 seed Wisla Can-Pack Krakow.

Energa Torun:  Renee Taylor 23/7 ast, Victoria Macaulay 13/13 reb, Ajavon 12 (3-for-13 shooting).

Gorzow:  Kelley Cain 22/19 reb, Katarzyna Dźwigalska 16/6 reb/6 ast, Beata Jaworska 10.

Box score Energa Torun/Gorzow: 

http://basketligakobiet.pl/mecz/35126/energa-torun—kssse-azs-pwsz-gorzow-wlkp-.html

 

Cierra Burdick

(Napoli, Italy)

Sunday (March 20):  Napoli went on the road and crushed Orvieto 79-41 to move to 10-14 overall with two games to go in the regular season.  The win puts Napoli in a tie for seventh place.   A 21-10 fourth quarter closed the door on Orvieto as it was held to just 32 percent shooting.

Napoli:  Gintare Petronyte 19/8 reb, Sara Bocchetti 17, Burdick 16/16 reb, Martina Fassina 10.

Orvieto:  Jelena Ivezic 11, Valentina Baldetti 11.

Box score Napoli/Orvieto: 

http://lbf-web.dataproject-stats.com/Tabellino.asp?IdGara=16059

Complete game Napoli/Orvieto: 

 

Damiris Dantas

(Corinthians, Brazil)

Dantas’s Corinthians team does not play again until March 31.

 

Reshanda Gray

(Battipaglia, Italy)

Reshanda Gray has a new blog entry up about her season so far:

http://reshandagray.sportsblog.com/posts/14586501/still-moving-forward.html

“It’s that time of year where things are winding down and teams are fighting for a spot in the playoffs. My team is on the cusp. We’ve had our ups and downs and plenty of drama that’s outside of our control, but we remain humble and have our eye on the prize . . . a playoff spot!”

Sunday (March 20):  Battipaglia traveled to Parma and lost by a single basket 78-76.  The loss puts Battipaglia at 10-14 with two regular season games to go and in ninth place in the Italian league.

Battipaglia led 59-51 going into the final quarter, but Parma tied it up with three minutes remaining. On Parma’s final play, Francesca Zara inbounded the ball to Christine Clark who was unguarded and simply drove to the basket for the go-ahead score. Battipaglia had a chance to tie it up on on an inbounds play with five seconds left, but the lob towards the basket ended up in the hands of Parma.

Battipaglia:  Asia Boyd 21, Gray 16/9 reb, Kourtney Treffers 15/8 reb.

Parma:  Valeria Di Pretta 21, Christine Clark 20, Uju Ugoka 17/17 reb, Laura Spreafico 11.

Box score Battipaglia/Parma: 

http://lbf-web.dataproject-stats.com/Tabellino.asp?IdGara=16055

Complete score Battipaglia/Parma: 

 

Tiffany Hayes

(Yakin Dogu, Turkey)

Thursday (March 17):  Yakin Dogu hosted top-ranked Fenerbahce and lost 73-69.  It was the 10th straight win for Fenerbahce.  At one point in the fourth quarter the score was deadlocked at 62-62, but Fenerbahce had too much firepower.  Jantel Lavender had a double-double for the winners.

Yakin Dogu:  Hayes 20, Kelsey Bone 15/10 reb, Alyssa Thomas 13/6 reb.

Fenerbahce:  Jantel Lavender 22/10 reb, Allie Quigley 17, Marissa Coleman 13/5 ast.

Sunday (March 20):  Yakin Dogu traveled to Edirne and lost 79-72.  The loss drops Yakin Dogu to 7-16 and with just three games left in the Turkish regular season and it would have to run the table and hope for losses from other teams to make the postseason.

Oddly enough, Yakin Dogu won big on the boards, with an 18-2 edge in offensive rebounds and a 46-29 advantage overall.  On the other hand, Edirne hit 49 percent of its shots to just 37 from Yakin Dogu.  Yakin Dogu took 25 shots from 3-point range, but only hit eight of them (compared to an 8-for-15 performance from Edirne) and Edirne had 10 steals.

Yakin Dogu:  Yelena Leuchanka 19/19 reb, Asena Yalcin 15, Alyssa Thomas 11/10 reb, Kelsey Bone 11, Hayes 10.

Edirne:  Ivory Latta 24/7 ast, Olesia Malashenko 22, Stefanie Dolson 17/9 reb.

Box score Yakin Dogu/Fenerbahce: 

http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1480&Sezon=156

Box score Yakin Dogu/Edirne: 

http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1492&Sezon=156#

 

Roneeka Hodges

(Miskolc, Hungary)

Saturday (March 19):  Miskolc traveled to ZTE NKK and won 77-72 to move into a three-way tie for second place at 12-5 with one regular season game to play.  Miskolc trailed 63-54 after three quarters and was behind 72-65 with less than three minutes in regulation before Miskolc went on a 12-0 run to end the game.

Miskolc:  Rita Rasheed 18, Hodges 16, Dora Horti 10, Tina Jovanovic 9/11 reb.

ZTE NKK:  Zsofia Licskai 21, Virag Szalay 17/6 ast, Dora Nagy 11/6 reb.

Box score Miskolc/ZTE NKK: 

http://kosarsport.hu/game/whun/x1516/whun_84

 

Sancho Lyttle

(UMMC, Ekaterinburg)

Wednesday (March 16):  The last participant in the Euroleague Final Four would be determined in a match between UMMC and Turkish squad Galatasaray in Russia to conclude a three-game series.  UMMC won decisively 88-66 to take the series and set up a semifinal game with defending champ USK Praha in April.

UMMC went 10-for-19 from behind the three point arc.  UMMC only led by four points at halftime, but Galatasaray hit the wall in the second half and UMMC won the final quarter by a ten-point margin.

UMMC:  Diana Taurasi 26/6 ast, Alba Torrens 15, Brittney Griner 14/6 reb, Lyttle 14/5 reb.

Galatasaray: Jelena Dubljevic 17, Nevriye Yilmaz 14, Ann Wauters 12, Jewell Loyd 9/6 ast.

Saturday (March 19):  It was back to domestic league play as UMMC defeated Dynamo Kursk 97-81 for their twentieth win against no losses in the Russian league.  However, Sancho Lyttle did not take part in that game.

Box score UMMC/Galatasaray (Game Three):  http://www.fibaeurope.com/euroleaguewomen/compID_jr6ZiXqeGhMBtfq1yxqV83.season_2016.roundID_11804.gameID_11815-3-C-3.html

Complete game UMMC/Galatasaray: 

 

Angel McCoughtry

(Mersin, Turkey)

Thursday (March 17): Mersin went on the road to beat Besitkas 84-69.  This game was an absolute explosion for Angel McCoughtry with a ridiculous stat line:  42 points, eight rebounds, four assists, six steals and a perfect performance at the free throw line.

Mersin:  McCoughtry 42/8 reb/4 ast/6 stl, Aneika Henry 14/15 reb, Marina Kuzina 11/7 reb.

Besitkas:  Cappie Pondexter 18/7 ast, Saziye Under 17/6 reb.

Sunday (March 20):  Mersin hosted the team at the bottom of the Turkish league, Orduspor, and feasted with an overwhelming 120-59 victory to advance to a 17-5 record, good for third place in the Turkish league with two games remaining.  Mersin won every quarter and was up by 30 points at halftime.  They could afford to give Angel some rest.

Mersin:  Duygu Firat 26/12 reb, Ilknur Yildizhan 19/9 reb, Emel Turkyilmaz 18/12 reb, Tugba Tasci 17/8 reb/5 ast, Cisem Insel 11/5 ast, Marina Kuzina 10, McCoughtry 0/3 ast (6 min played).

Orduspor:  Yildiz Kaygisiz 21, Ferda Yildiz 19, Ozge Kavurmacioglu 10/6 reb.

Box score Mersin/Besitkas: 

http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1484&Sezon=156

Box score Mersin/Orduspor: 

http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1488&Sezon=156

 

Meighan Simmons

(Umbertide, Italy)

Sunday (March 20):  It should have been an easy win on the road against cellar dwelling San Giovanni, but Umbertide fell to the home team 71-60 to fall to 10-14 on the regular season, in a tie for seventh place with Napoli.  Going 12-for-21 from three point range helped seal the win for San Giovanni.  A 5-for-13 performance at the free throw line certainly didn’t help Umbertide.

Umbertide:  Simmons 17, Ilaria Milazzo 14, Ivana Tikvic 8/10 reb.

San Giovanni:  Anteisha Brown (New Mexico 2015) 29, Andra Mandache 12/7 reb, Emily Correal 4/10 reb.

Box score Umbertide/San Giovanni: 

http://lbf-web.dataproject-stats.com/Tabellino.asp?IdGara=16061

Complete game Umbertide/San Giovanni: 

 

Amanda Thompson

(Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania)

Thompson’s Sfantu Gheorghe team will meet No. 3 seed Alba Iulia in the championship finals starting on March 23.

 

Elizabeth Williams

(Istanbul Univ, Turkey)

Wednesday (March 16):  Istanbul Univ hit the road to play No. 2 ranked Hatay and lost 87-59 in a game where Hatay tallied 22 assists.  Hatay won every quarter of this game and shot 55 percent from the field, including hitting 11 of 23 triples.

Istanbul Univ:  Viktoria Mircheva 14/10 reb, Williams 12/8 reb, Tan White 7/6 ast.

Hatay:  Natalie Hurst 19/6 reb, Anna Vajda 17/9 reb/5 ast, Katsiaryna Snytsina 15/6 reb, Courtney Paris 14/10 reb.

Sunday (March 20):  Istanbul Univ squeezed by visiting Gelistirenler 71-68 to move up to 12-11 on the season with three games left, good for sixth overall.  Unable to find out much about this game.

Istanbul Univ:  Tan White 20/18 reb, Williams 18/10 reb, Gizem Yavuz 8/6 ast.

Gelistirenler:  Courtney Vandersloot 15, Alex Bentley 13, Nevin Vantansever 5/14 reb.

Box score Istanbul Univ/Hatay: 

http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1479&Sezon=156

Box score Istanbul Univ/Gelistirenler: 

http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1490&Sezon=156

 

OVERALL INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Matee Ajavon (Poland):  19 games, 12.6 ppg/4.2 rpg/3.9 apg

Cierra Burdick (Italy):  24 games, 12.0 ppg/9.5 rpg/1.6 apg

Sydney Carter (Latvia/Estonia):  11 games, 10.4 ppg/2.7 rpg/3.5 apg

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

Damiris Dantas (Brazil):  12 games, 20.7 ppg/8.0 rpg/1.5 apg

Reshanda Gray (Italy):  24 games, 18.0 ppg/11.7 rpg/0.9 apg

Tiffany Hayes (Turkey):  23 games, 17.3 ppg/4.4 rpg/2.3 apg

Roneeka Hodges (Hungary):  3 games, 8.7 ppg/2.3 rpg/1.3 apg

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

Sancho Lyttle (Russia):  13 games, 12.0 ppg/7.9 rpg/2.1 apg

Angel McCoughtry (Turkey):  21 games, 24.7 ppg/7.2 rpg/3.2 apg

Meighan Simmons (Italy):  24 games, 21.8 ppg/4.0 rpg/1.2 apg

Amanda Thompson (Romania):  14 games, 9.1 ppg/8.6 rpg/1.8 apg

Elizabeth Williams (Turkey):  20 games, 13.3 ppg/10.0 rpg/1.2 apg