Diana Taurasi Continues to Shine for Spartak

Nov. 5, 2009 - 2009-10 EuroLeague Results & Standings

Diana Taurasi was born under a very bright star. The winner of two Olympic gold medals, three NCAA titles while at the University of Connecticut, two WNBA crowns with the Phoenix Mercury, and three EuroLeague and three Russia Super League championships with Spartak Moscow, Taurasi collects championships the way little kids collect Webkinz. And she seems to be hitting her stride. After her first two EuroLeague games this year, Taurasi is leading the pack with a 28.0 ppg. average, 5.7 ppg. ahead of the league's second scorer, DeLisha Milton-Jones (22.3 ppg.). She also lists No. 4 for assists (5.5 apg.), showing she's not afraid to give up the ball, has hit all eight of her free throw attempts and is shooting a respectable 50.0 percent from the field in the EuroLeague. What the future holds for Taurasi is anyone's guess. But we would have to assume more titles are in store for Taurasi and Spartak if she keeps this up.

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This Week's Roundup
Six teams remain undefeated early in EuroLeague play, including Group A's Ros Casares Valencia and Galatasary, which meet up in two weeks in Istanbul. In Group B, Beretta Famila Schio and Wisla Can-Pack are both sporting perfect marks. One of those teams is sure to collect a loss next week as Wisla Can-Pack hosts the Italian club in Krakow, Poland, on Nov. 18. Rivas Ecópolis is the only undefeated team in Group C and Spartak Moscow Region is the only team in Group D to not feel the sting of a loss. Additionally, seven clubs are still in the hunt for their first victories.

The 2009-10 EuroLeague preliminary round still has many weeks to go, but over the next five weeks before the two-week holiday break the standings should start to shake out. The cream will rise to the top by then, but some squads will need to return from the break in top form. The middle and bottom rakings usually become quite a competition over the final two weeks of play as only the top four from each group will advance to the next round.

Spartak Moscow Region 88, Fenerbache 74
Diana Taurasi turned in another superb performance in leading Spartak Moscow Region (2-0) past Fenerbache (1-2) in Istanbul, Turkey, with a game-best 29 points, seven boards and six assists. Spartak jumped to an early 20-4 lead. The Turk squad slowly chipped away at the gap and with 7:23 to play the USA's Nicole Powell sunk a pair of free throws to give Fener its first lead of the night, 70-69. However, Taurasi hit 6-of-6 from the line and dished out a pair of assists in a Spartak 11-0 run that spanned two minutes and left the Russian club on top 80-70. Fenerbache never again threatened as Spartak remained undefeated.

In addition to Taurasi's performance, Latvia star Anete Jekabsone-Zogota scored 18 points, USA National Team member Sylvia Fowles hit 6-of-9 from the field and notched 13 points, while fellow American Janel McCarville scored 12 points.

Taurasi's Phoenix Mercury teammate Penny Taylor of Australia scored 21 points and grabbed nine boards, while American Nicole Powell contributed 19 points and six assists.

Ros Casares 87, UMMC Ekaterinburg 68
Behind 19 points apiece from two-time Olympic gold medalist DeLisha Milton-Jones and Spain's Laia Palau, Ros Casares (3-0) took the top of the leader board in Group A by handing UMMC Ekaterinburg (2-1) a stunning 87-68 defeat. Playing without its injured point guard Celine Dumerc, UMMC was forced into 20 turnovers. Ros opened with 12 unanswered points and was still up by 12, 24-12, at the end of the first quarter. The Russian side clipped it to five points, 40-35, at halftime, and the third quarter was nearly even with Ros taking it 19-17. With her side trailing 59-52 heading into the final stanza, USA National Team member Cappie Pondexter cut the gap to four points with a three to start the fourth quarter and with 6:14 to play the Valencian club's lead was narrowed to three points, 67-64. That's when Milton-Jones went to work. She outscored UMMC 8-2 to give Ros some breathing room, 75-66, with 3:14 to play.

In addition to her 19 points, Milton-Jones grabbed six boards. Czech national Jana Vesela added 16 points and Brazilian Erika de Souza posted a double-double of 13 points and 12 boards. Ann Wauters scored 16 points to lead UMMC, Pole Agnieszka Bibrzycka tossed in 13 and Pondexter, in her first game back after eye surgery, scored 12 points and added seven boards.

Cras Basket Taranto 70, TTT Riga 59
The USA's Rebekkah Brunson and Jami Montagnino each chipped in 17 points, while Brunson grabbed a season-high 17 rebounds and Elodie Godin contributed 14 boards and six points as Cras Basket Taranto (1-2) secured its first victory with a 70-59 road win over TTT Riga (0-3). The Latvian squad was paced by 14 points from Lisa Willis.

Wisla Can-Pack 77, ESB Lille Metropole 71
Wisla Can-Pack (3-0) traveled to Villeneuve d' Ascq, France, and eked out a close victory against ESB Lille Metropole (1-2) 77-71 to remain undefeated in EuroLeague play. The team from Krakow, which slipped into the EuroLeague slot vacated after CSKA Moscow folded, is quickly proving it belongs here. Falling behind 20-13 after the first quarter, Wisla Can-Pack outscored the home club 44-30 in the second and third quarters and held off Lille in the fourth for the eventual win. Polish national Ewelina Kobryn was huge in the win, posting 24 points and 10 boards; while France's Elodie Bertal scored 15 points for Lille.

ZVVZ USK Prague 96, KSSSE AZS-PWSZ Gorzow 79
KSSSE AZS-PWSZ Gorzow (0-3) scored the game's first four points, but ZVVZ USK Prague (2-1) outscored the visitors from Poland 23-9 in the remainder of the first quarter and by halftime owned a 48-30 lead. The second half was much closer, the Gorzow squad won it by a point, 49-48, but the damage was done as the Poles suffered their third defeat of the season. The Czech's Katarina Elhotova top-scored for ZVVZ USK with 25 points and American Catherine Kraayeveld. The USA's Lindsay Whalen had an off shooting night, she hit 2-of-10 from the field to finish with seven points, but also dished out a high of seven assists. Agnieszka Kaczmarczyk scored 20 points in her team's losing effort.

Bourges Basket 82, MKB Euroleasing 56
Bourges Basket (2-1) handed MKB Euroleasing Sopron (2-1) its first loss of the season with a dominating 82-56 victory in France. Holding a slim 16-14 lead at the end of the first quarter, Bourges jumped on the visitors early in the second quarter and owned a 42-25 lead at halftime. The Hungarian side that advanced to last year's Final Four was never able to recover as Bourges, bolstered by a balanced scoring attack, took the win. Czech Ilona Burgrová led Bourges with 15 points, France's Paoline Salagnac added 13 and former Rutgers standout and USA Basketball gold medalist Essence Carson contributed 10 points. The Hungarians also had three players score in double digits, including American Amber Holt and Serbian Maja Miljkovic, who scored 13 apiece, and Hungarian Tijana Krivacevic added 12.

Frisco Sika Brno 70, Tarbes GB 62
After trailing by three points, 37-34, at halftime, the visiting Frisco Sika Brno (1-1) squad outscored Tarbes GB (1-2) 19-10 in the third quarter and held the French squad at bay in the fourth quarter for the 70-62 win. Czech Hana Horakova's 19 points aided her side in the victory, as did 12 points from former USA National Team member Taj McWilliams-Franklin. American DeWanna Bonner also contributed with nine points in the win. Swede Frida Eldebrink led Tarbes with 23 points and Charde Houston had 12 points.

Galatasary 82, TEO Vilnius 55
Galatasary (3-0) remained unbeaten, while TEO Vilnius (0-3) is still looking for its first win of the season after Galatasary blew out the visiting Lithuanian squad 82-55. The first 15 minutes of the contest were close and with just under five minutes to play before the midway buzzer, the score was knotted at 26-apiece. Sophia Young broke the tie and scored five straight points in a Galatasary 12-0 run that blew the game open. TEO finally scored with 21 seconds on the clock, but by halftime the game was well in hand, 41-28. The second half saw Galatasary outscore TEO 21-13 in the third and 20-14 in the fourth quarter for the victory. Jia Perkins was the game's high scorer for the Turkish club, while Young finished with 17 points. The two Americans on the TEO roster both scored in double digits as Renee Montgomery notched a team-best 21 points and passed out four assists and Quanitra Hollingsworth added 12.

Beretta-Famila Schio 91, Gospic Croatia 76
Beretta-Famila (3-0) led from wire-to-wire and earned its third victory of the season, handing Gospic Croatia (0-3) its third straight loss in a 91-76 win in Schio. -I'm very happy for this third straight win," Marissa Coleman, who scored seven points and had four assists, told FIBA Europe. -I'm (in my) first appearance in European competition and I think that (the) level of teams is really high. I hope our team continues with this powerful (performance).' Laura Macchi led the Italian team with 23 points and five assists and France's Nicole Antibe added 16 points in the win. Croatian Jelena Ivezic led her team's losing effort with 22 points and six rebounds.

Halcon Avenida 69, MiZo Pecs 2010 60
MiZo Pecs 2010 (0-3) suffered its third loss of this EuroLeage season, this time at the hands of 2009 Final Four participant Halcon Avenida (2-1) 69-60. Trailing for most of the first three quarters, the Spanish club took its second lead of the game when Spaniard Isa Sanchez hit a layup with 38 seconds to go in the third quarter. The game remained close, but Halcon Avenida never gave up its lead and came away with the win. Sanchez and the USA's Le'Coe Willingham scored 17 points apiece, while Russian Olga Podkovalnikova added 14 points and nine rebounds. Hungarian Zsofia Fegyverneky scored a high of 15 points, Hungarian Anna Vajda had 15 points and nine rebounds, while the USA's Nicole Ohlde contributed 12 points and seven rebounds for the Hungarian side.

Rivas Ecopolis 74, Good Angels Kosice 58
Rivas Ecopolis (3-0) relied on balanced scoring that saw four players hit in double digits as it took down Good Angels Kosice (0-3) 74-58 to remain undefeated. Jelena Dubljevic led the charge for the winners, who went up early and never looked back, with 18 points. The Slovakian team, led by Candice Dupree's 17 points and 12 rebounds also saw Angel McCoughtry score 19 points in the loss.

Lotos Gdynia 74, Szeviep 61
Shameka Christan and Polish national Magdalena Leciejewska posted 17 points apiece to lead Lotos Gdynia (2-1) to a 74-61 win over Szeviép Szeged (0-2) in Gdynia. Alana Beard played just five minutes for the Polish side and accounted for two points in her 2009-10 EuroLeague debut. Lithuania center Vaida Sipaviciute had team-highs of 14 points and six rebounds for the Hungarian squad.