Dream Overseas Report - Nov. 3
We move on to November in this year’s Dream Overseas update. Tiffany Hayes, Aneika Henry and Angel McCoughtry didn’t play their games until Monday, but there’s a lot to report about regarding the Atlanta Dream’s other players. Follow along with the box scores and video clips listed below!
Matee Ajavon
(Energa Torun, Poland)
On Saturday, Energa Torun hosted AZS-UMCS and fell to the visitors 58-49. AZS-UMCS took a 12-2 run over the first five minutes of the game, forcing Torun to play catch up, closing to 30-25 by halftime. Unfortunately, AZS-UMCS scored the first six points of the third quarter and Torun was behind by double digits for most of the rest of the game with Ajavon herself facing a swarm of defenders.
Jhasmin Player (Baylor) and Dominika Owczarzak each scored 11 points for the winners. Ajavon had 14 points, Victoria Maucalay had 10 and new arrival Shae Kelley had just two points in 16 minutes of play.
Torun falls to 2-5 for the season, in a four-way tie for 7th place out of 12 teams.
Box score for Energa Torun-AZS-UMCS:
http://www.basketligakobiet.pl/mecz/35038/statystykipdf.html
Image gallery:
http://m.sportowefakty.wp.pl/koszykowka/zdjecia/galeria/8673/energa-torun-pszczolka-azs-umcs-lublin-4958
Cierra Burdick
(Napoli, Italy)
Eurocup play started on Wednesday and Thursday and the Napoli team took off on the 29th to play the Orange Blizzards from the Netherlands as play started among the four teams in Group G. The Blizzards are interesting as they are basically an All-Star team of the best players from the individual teams in the Netherlands domestic league. Napoli walked away with a 73-62 road victory to get their first Eurocup win. The Blizzards were up 20-15 in the first quarter, but a second quarter run by Napoli put enough distance on the scoreboard that the Blizzards never caught up and were held to 33.3 percent shooting.
Four players scored in double figures for Napoli: Jelena Ivesic with 18, Natalie Achonwa with 15, Burdick with 13 and Gintare Petronyte with 12. Tanya Bröring led the Blizzards with 13 but shot 1-for-9 from 3-point range.
In domestic league play on Sunday, it was another story as Lucca beat Napoli 74-50 to remain undefeated in the Italian league at 5-0. Napoli only scored four offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 19 times. Down 36-22 at halftime, Napoli was held to just nine third quarter points. Napoli loses its third straight to fall to 2-3 overall and sits in a four-way tie for seventh place among 12 teams.
Stanford’s Jillian Harmon scored 26 points in the win for Lucca followed by Francesca Dotto with 12. For Napoli, Noelle Quinn had 16 points/8 rebounds and Cierra Burdick had 11 points/8 rebounds. Natalie Achonwa added 10 points for Napoli.
Box score for Napoli-Orange Blizzards: http://www.fibaeurope.com/compID_Rn2Om4j3HOcXtTFwJWFsh3.season_2016.roundID_11803.gameID_11817-G-1-1.html
Napoli-Orange Blizzards complete game:
Box score for Napoli-Lucca:
http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Italy/2015/1101_11605_12643.asp?women=1
Sydney Carter
(TTT Riga, Latvia)
In Group B in Eurocup, TTT Riga hosted Turkish team Orduspor and won 75-69. Orduspor led 52-51 going into the final quarter, but Riga took the lead with 3:52 to go and never gave it up. Riga won this game on the boards, with a 40-29 overall rebounding advantage.
Kristen Mann led all scorers with 21 points. Carter added 19 points and five steals. For Orduspor, Jelena Milivanovich had 20 points and Courtney Vandersloot (Chicago Sky) had 15 points and five assists (but seven turnovers.)
Back home in domestic play, TTT Riga moved to 3-0 on the season as they beat Vega 1/Liepaga 80-64. The score doesn’t show it, but Riga pretty much dominated its opponent and were never behind, leading in offensive rebounds 18-5. Ruta Veidere led Riga with 21 points followed by Anda Eibele with 14. No player played more than 27 minutes for Riga and Carter had seven points in 20 minutes of play.
Over her three domestic league games Carter has averaged 11.3 points per game.
Box score for TTT Riga-Orduspor: http://www.fibaeurope.com/compID_Rn2Om4j3HOcXtTFwJWFsh3.season_2016.roundID_11803.gameID_11817-B-1-1.html
Box score for TTT Riga-Vega 1/Liepaga: http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Latvia/2015/1031_7819_7821.asp?women=1
Carla Cortijo
(Gigantes de Carolina, Puerto Rico)
On Tuesday the 27th, Carla Cortijo’s first place squad took on a second place Manatee team that has both Sugar Rodgers of the New York Liberty and Jordan Hooper of the Tulsa Shock. Carolina hung on for an 87-83 win. They were down by 47-32 at halftime and closed the gap to five points at the end of the third period before taking the lead in the final 10 minutes. Cortijo tied the game at 83-83 with 26 seconds left and then 19 seconds made the go-ahead basket with Manatee failing to score in their final possession. On the ensuing foul, she hit both free throws to seal the win.
Cortijo scored 25 points/5 assists in that game and her teammate Rebecca Bruzweski out of Notre Dame scored 21 points/10 rebounds. Marissa Kastanek added 16 and Yolanda Jones had 10. For Manatee, four players scored in double figures: Wake Forest’s Sandra Garcia with 24, Florida State’s Yashira Delgado with 18, Rodgers with 16 and Hooper with 15.
One Thursday the 29th, Carolina played Mayaguez in the final game of the regular season, winning 88-74, helped along by an 18-for-19 performance at the free throw line. Cortijo finished with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists and four other Carolina players in double figures. Leading scorers for Mayaguez were Amanda Thompson of the 2014 Atlanta Dream with 27 and Monique Oliver (Rutgers) with 21.
Final Standings 2015 Regular Season
- Carolina 16-2
- Manatee 13-5
- Mayaguez 10-8
- Morovis 9-9
- Isabela 5-13
- Ponce 5-13
- Santurce 5-13
Ponce eliminated Santorce on Friday to determine the sixth and final playoff spot. Carolina and Manatee will receive a bye as the 3-through-6 teams play a quarterfinal bracket. The three-game quarterfinal series will be over by November 4.
Box score Carolina-Manatee: http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Puerto%20Rico/2015/1027_9342_19626.asp?women=1
Box score Carolina-Mayaguez: http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Puerto%20Rico/2015/1029_9342_14431.asp?women=1
Carla Cortijo in a Puerto Rican commercial:
Damiris Dantas
(Corinthians/Americana, Brazil)
(None scheduled)
Reshanda Gray
(Battipaglia, Italy)
After a 0-4 start to the season with Gray the oldest player on a very young team, Battipaglia finally got a win against visiting San Giovanni 84-59. Battipaglia outrebounded their opponent 40-29 and shot 7-for-14 from three point range, making up for an 11-for-22 performance from the free throw line.
Marzia Tagliamento led Battipaglia with 25 points and Kourtney Treffers scored 22 points/11 rebounds. Gray scored 7 points/10 rebounds in 15 minutes of play, with three personal fouls in the first six minutes of the game. Andra Mandache scored 19 for San Giovanni, the only San Giovanni player to score in double figures.
Box score Battipaglia-San Giovanni:
http://lbf-web.dataproject-stats.com/Tabellino.asp?IdGara=15943
Full game Battipaglia-San Giovanni:
Tiffany Hayes
(Yakin Dogu, Turkey)
On Monday, November 2, Hayes’s team hosted Besitkas and won 77-62. The big difference in the win was a 23-11 third period on behalf of the host team.
Hayes led all scorers on both teams with 21 points and six rebounds. Kelsey Bone scored 14 points and nine rebounds, and Ana Dabovic had 20 points for the winners. Alyssa Thomas had 12 points and nine rebounds as well. Only two players scored in double figures for Besitkas, including Cappie Pondexter with 14 points.
Yakin Dogu moves to fifth place in the Turkish league at 2-1.
Box score of Yakin Dogu-Besitkas:
http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1348&Sezon=156
Interview with Tiffany Hayes (in Turkish):
http://jwsbasketball.org/cok-zor-bir-ligde-mucadele-ediyoruz/
Aneika Henry, Angel McCoughtry
(Mersin, Turkey)
Henry and McCoughtry traveled to Edirne on Monday, November 2 and won 72-63. Down 55-53 at the end of three quarters, a 19-8 fourth period sealed the win for the visitors. It was Mersin’s first victory of the season.
McCoughtry had a great performance with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Bria Hartley had 20 points, and Henry added 10. Marina Kuzina had two points but 11 rebounds in in the Mersin win.
For Edirne, the only two players to score in double figures were Ivory Latta with 24 points and Stefanie Dolson with 18 points/10 rebounds.
As of Tuesday morning, Mersin is 1-2 on the year and is in 10th place among 14 teams.
Box score of Mersin-Edirne (in Turkish):
http://www.tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl/mac-detay?Lig=7368&MacNo=1BA1352&Sezon=156
Angel McCoughtry photo shoot for Sports Wire Magazine:
Sancho Lyttle
(UMMC, Ekaterinburg)
In UMMC’s third game in Euroleague play, UMMC sits all alone at the top of Group B with a 3-0 record as they beat Poland’s Wisla Krakow team 88-52 on the road. UMMC scored 56 points in the paint with players like Lyttle, Sandrine Gruda and Brittney Griner. A 14-0 run at the start of the third period finished off any Wisla Krakow hope of contending.
No player on the UMMC side played more than 25 minutes. Gruda scored 15 points/7 rebounds, followed by Diana Taurasi with14 points and Griner with 13 points/9 rebounds. Lyttle had 7 points/13 rebounds in 21 minutes of play. Yvonne Turner (Nebraska) led Wisla Krakow with 12 points and Devereaux Peters had six points in the losing effort.
On Sunday, November 1 UMMC moved to 5-0 in the domestic league with a 95-69 road win against Enisey. UMMC was never behind and led 17-4 at one point in the first quarter and were up by 20 before five minutes of the second quarter had elapsed. Diana Taurasi led all UMMC players with 23 points, followed by Brittney Griner with 21. Lyttle scored the only double-double of the game with 10 points/13 rebounds.
Box score UMMC-Wisla Krakow: http://www.fibaeurope.com/euroleaguewomen/compID_jr6ZiXqeGhMBtfq1yxqV83.season_2016.roundID_11804.teamID_5326.playerID_104010.html
Box score UMMC-Enisey (in Russian):
http://stats.russiabasket.ru/org/game.html?id=109948&compId=11012&tab=0&style=united
,xPosition=.5,yPosition=.5)
,xPosition=.5,yPosition=.5)