Doubling Up

Dec. 17, 2009 - 2009-10 EuroLeague Results & Standings

We're not sure what's going on this week, but there were a stunning amount of pretty big double-doubles in EuroLeague action. In all, nine players over eight games posted double-doubles. In the 95 games played so far this season, there have been just 68 double-doubles recorded. We're not stats gurus here, but that's fewer than one per game. And this week players churned out an average of more than one per game. It must be end of season, must-win time! DeWanna Bonner scored 19 points and had the highest rebounding output of the week with a whopping 21, eight on the offensive end; Janell Burse finished with 28 points and 17 boards, 10 offensive; Candice Dupree had 24 points and 12 rebounds; Crystal Langhorne did it with 22 points and 10 boards; Nicole Ohlde struck for 15 points and 11 boards; and Le'Coe Willingham had 19 points and 12 rebounds. On the international front, Serbian Milka Bjelica posted 18 points and 15 boards; France's Elodie Godin snuck into the club with 10 points and 11 rebounds; and Sancho Lyttle, a native of St. Vincent, West Indies, went for 14 points and 15 rebounds.

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Statistically Speaking
With the EuroLeague in its eighth week, USA Basketball National Team member Diana Taurasi remains atop the scoring leader board, averaging 22.3 ppg. Even more impressive is the fact that she's playing just 28.4 minutes a game, which ranks No. 60 among all EuroLeague competitors. Following behind are Angel McCoughtry (20.7 ppg.), Candice Dupree (19.6 ppg.), Sophia Young (18.4 ppg.) and Janell Burse (18.4). Burse is not only also in the top five for rebounders, she leads the pack with a 12.5 rpg. average. Sancho Lyttle is second at 10.8 rpg., Dupree ranks third (10.4 rpg.), Quanitra Hollingsworth (8.7 rpg.) and Crystal Langhorne (8.6 rpg.) round out the top five. While USA players are dominating in points and rebounding, Cappie Pondexter is the sole U.S. rep among the top five assist leaders, dishing out 4.8 apg.

Home Court Advantage … Again
I know last week we mentioned the advantage the hosts had over the visiting teams. Out of the 12 games played this week, 11 teams won at home. Why is this so important as to bring up a second week in a row? It's the reason teams fight to the end of the season and never bench players against ‘easy' teams in order to give them a rest. Unlike in the NCAA or conference tournaments, where games are played on a neutral court, EuroLeague playoffs is more like the NBA or WNBA model where teams play a series of home and away games. In a best-of-three series that the next rounds feature, teams most definitely want that home court advantage in order to give a little extra boost.

Group A
UMMC Ekaterinburg (7-1) broke the tie atop Group A's standings and now stands alone at the apex of that pool after downing Ros Casares (6-2) by 12 points, 82-70. TEO Vilnius (1-7) pulled off a stunning upset, overtaking Galatasaray (4-4) 86-80 at home for their first win of the season. TEO has no shot at advancing out of the qualifying round, but the win should give the team a good moral boost for its domestic league. Cras Basket Taranto (5-3) is sitting in third place in the group and with Gala's final two games scheduled against UMMC and Ros, and Cras Basket's final two against Ros and TEO Vilnius, the top four teams out of Group A will likely advance in the order of this week's standings. From first through fourth, it should be: UMMC, Ros Casares, Cras Basket and Galatasaray.  With its loss this week, TTT Riga (1-7) lost all hope of advancing.

UMMC Ekaterinburg 82, Ros Casares Valencia 70
Ekaterinburg hosted Ros Casares Valencia and collected an 82-70 victory with the help of USA National Team member Cappie Pondexter and Poland national Agnieszka Bibrzyska's team-high of 16 points apiece. Ekaterinburg, which boasts one of the most internationally diverse rosters, also received 12 points from France's Sandrine Gruda, Russia passport holder Deanna Nolan, and Belgium native Ann Wauters. Ros had four players finish in double digits, including a team-best 12 points apiece from two-time Olympic gold medalist DeLisha Milton-Jones and Spain's Elisa Aguilar.

After a 24-24 end to the first quarter, Ekaterinburg managed a 32-31 edge four minutes into the second period. Over the remainder of the quarter, however, Ekaterinburg strung together a 12-4 run that left Ros trailing 44-35 at the half. Ros managed to cut the gap to four points, 46-42, at 7:15, but that was as close as it would get. Ekaterinburg took a time out to regroup and it worked. Behind six points and a pair of assists from Pondexter, the Russian club reeled off 13 unanswered points to blow the game open, 59-42, with 3:20 to play in the period. By the time the third quarter was over, the hosts held a 66-49 lead. Ros was never able to recover.

Cras Basket Taranto 78, TTT Riga 52
After taking a 21-11 lead at the first qurter break, Cras Basket Taranto let its lead slip to five points at halftime.  TTT Riga fought back and tied up the game at 39-all with 2:15 to play in the third quarter. However, the hosts turned up their offense to 11 and reeled off 18 consecutive points that left them in full control, 57-39, with 5:30 remaining in the game. American Megan Mahoney led all scorers with 19 points and added five rebounds and five assists, while former USA National Team member Rebekkah Brunson scored 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds as one of five Cras Basket players to score in double digits. Latvian Aija Brumermane was TTT Riga's top scorer with 10 points.

TEO Vilnius 86, Galatasaray 80 (OT)
It took 45 minutes, but in the end TEO Vilnius produced a stunning upset over Galatasaray, 86-80, in overtime. Looking to end the final three games on a high note, TEO did just that, thanks in part to a game-high 25 points from USA National Team hopeful Renee Montgomery, who hit 10-of-14 from the line and also grabbed eight boards. TEO fought back from a 38-29 halftime deficit to close within two points, 54-52, at the end of the third quarter. With TEO in the lead 71-68, Belarussian Yelena Leuchanka hit a 3-pointer to tie it up at 71-71. Both teams missed a possible game-winning basket in the waning seconds of regulation.

Sophia Young struck first in OT to put Gala up 73-71, but TEO retook the lead for good 36 seconds into the extra period on a 3-pointer from Serbian Milka Bjelica. The scoring went back and forth and in the final minute TEO owned an 83-80 lead. Forced to foul, Gala sent Montgomery to the line twice in the last 18 seconds and she shot 3-of-4 from the line to seal the win. In outscoring the visitors 15-9 in overtime, TEO received more than half its points from Montgomery, who notched eight and hit 6-of-8 from the charity stripe.  

Also aiding in the Vilnius attack were Quanitra Hollingsworth with a season-high 19 points to go with  six rebounds, while Bjelica dominated the game with 18 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. Gala was paced by 25 points from Young, while Jia Perkins added 12 points.

Group B
Wisla Can-Pack Krakow (8-0) continued their unbeaten streak and is one game away from clinching the top spot out of Group B after downing ESB Lille Metropole (1-7), which needs to close out the season with a pair of wins if it has any hopes of advancing. Halcon Avenida Salamanca (6-2) and Beretta Famila Schio (6-2) are tied in second place. If they both win next week, the seeding will come down to the final game of the season, a clash between the two hosted by Halcon Avenida. In the first game the Spanish team took a 10-point, 74-64, victory. If Halcon wins the meeting, it retains the No. 2 seed. Beretta-Famila needs to win the game by at least 11 points to avoid going to FIBA Europe's second tie breaker (with which we won't bore you at the moment). The final spot will be a fight to the finish. The three teams still struggling to advance include the French squad from Lille, MiZo Pécs 2010 (2-6) and Gospic Croatia (1-7).

Beretta Famila Schio 88, Gospic Croatia 65
Breaking open a close contest midway through the third quarter, Beretta Famila Schio defeated host Gospic Croatia 88-65. Trailing by two points, 52-50, Audrey (???)Sauret-Gillespie hit a jumper four minutes into the second half to knot the score and spur a 16-0 run that left the Italian team in the dust, 64-52. Gospic Croatia finally connected on a shot with three minutes left in the quarter to pull to 10 points, 64-54. However, the Beretta Famila run took the wind from Gospic's sails as the visitors closed out the quarter on a 8-2 run to go up 72-56 with 10 minutes to go. Beretta Famila outscored Gospic 16-9 in the fourth quarter for the eventual win. Italy's Laura Macchi led her team to victory with 20 points as four players scored in double digits for Beretta Famila.  Croatia's Jelena Ivezic also hit 20 points, while Americans Lamisha Augustine and Carla Thomas scored 17 and 10 points, respectively in the loss.

Wisla Can-Pack 93, ESB Lille Metropole 73
American Janell Burse posted a huge double-double of 28 points and 17 rebounds, 10 on the offensive end, in just 27 minutes of action to help Wisla Can-Pack remain undefeated with a 93-73 win over ESB Lille Metropole. -I am very happy," Burse told FIBA Europe. -I think that the first quarter was great for my team - very agressive in offense and in defense. We will try to play better in the next games. We have to eliminate some mistakes, especially in defense." The Polish team scored the game's first eight points and never looked back, outscoring the visitors 32-17 in the first period for a nice cushion. Also aiding in the win were Spain's Marta Fernandez with 20 points and Brazil's Iziane Castro Marques contributed 19 points. Lady Comfort led four Lille players in double digits with 20 points, while Jolene Anderson had eight points, five rebounds and four assists.

Halcon Avenida 70, MiZo Pécs 2010 63
Behind a game-high 19 points from Le'Coe Willingham, Halcon Avenida pulled out a 70-63 victory over a late-surging MiZo Pecs 2010. Halcon was up by 11 points at the half, 44-33, and increased its lead by three, 59-45, at the end of three. However, with the scoreboard showing 62-47 Mizo mounted a comeback attempt. A 18-9 run got them back in the game and with less than a minute to play Halcon's lead was cut to 68-63 on an Ohlde jumper. MiZo wasn't able to capitalize on a steal and with 18 seconds remaining, began to foul to stop the clock. Halcon Avenida made 2-of-4 down the stretch to ice the win. Willingham grabbed 12 points as one of two Halcon team members to post a double-double as Sancho Lyttle also doubled with 14 points and 15 boards. Nicole Ohlde led MiZo with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Allie Quigley was their team's only other player to hit in double figures and finished with 11 points.

Group C
Rivas Ecópolis (7-1), which already clinched the top seed out of this group, was upset by Good Angels Kosice (4-4), 72-61. Good Angels needed the victory, and two more, if it hopes to advance as the No. 2 seed. They were helped this week by ZVVZ USK Prague's (4-4) 87-72 loss to KSSSE AZS-PWSZ Gorzow (3-5). With MKB Euroleasing Sopron (3-5) and Bourges Basket (3-5) holding onto 3-5 records, there's still no telling how this group will shake out. The last two weeks of the regular season should see some fierce contests as the teams jockey for advancing positions.

KSSSE AZS-PWSZ Gorzow 87, ZVVZ USK Prague 72
Earning its third win of the season, and second in a row, KSSSE AZS-PWSZ Gorzow cut down ZVVZ USK Prague 87-72 to keep its playoff hopes alive. Australia's Samantha Richards scored 25 points on 10-of-15 from the field, Poland's Justnya Zurowska added 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and Sidney Spencer had 15 points and seven rebounds. USA National Team hopeful Lindsay Whalen led four Prague players in double digits with 15 points. In a close game throughout, the Poland club outgunned ZVVZ USK Prague 20-11 in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory.

MKB Euroleasing Sopron 83, Bourges Basket 73
MKB Euroleasing pulled away in the fourth quarter to earn a hard-fought 83-73 victory over Bourges Basket. Holding a 23-19 lead after the first quarter, MKB Euroleasing headed into the fourth quarter still clinging to a four-point advantage, 62-58. Bourges was sluggish to start the fourth, owning for two traveling turnovers, a pair of fouls and a couple of missed shots; while MKB hit 3-of-4 from the line to get a little breathing room, 65-58. The gap remained between five and eight points as each time MKB tried to pull away, Bourges would counter and with five minutes to play the score was 73-67. Hungary's Dora Horti notched the game's next four points off a pair of free throws and a jumper and with 3:28 to play, the Hungarian team led by 10, 77-67. The final minutes were laced with a combined 10 fouls and MKB Euroleasing, which hit 4-of-4 from the line in the waning minutes to Bourges Basket's 3-of-3, came away with the win. The Hungarian squad was paced by 19 points from Edit Ratkainé Eördögh, while the USA's Amber Holt added 16. FIBA U19 and U21 World Championship gold medalist Essence Carson led Bourges Basket with 17 points.

Good Angels Kosice 72, Rivas Ecópolis 61
The Good Angels Kosice handed Rivas Ecopolis its first defeat of the season, 72-61, behind the double-punch of USA National Team hopefuls Candice Dupree and Angel McCoughtry.  Trailing 19-16 after the first quarter, behind 11 points from McCoughtry and six from Dupree, Good Angels outscored Rivas 21-14 in the second to take a 37-33 halftime lead. However, by the end of the third quarter, Rivas evened things up at 47-all. Each team notched 11 points and by the 3:27 mark the score was again tied, 58-58. From there Good Angels managed to string together six straight points to go up 64-58 with 2:18 to play. But Rivas cut the lead on a traditional 3-point play and with two minutes to go the game was still tight, 64-61. After a Linda Frohlich free throw that upped it to 65-61, Dupree sandwiched a jumper between a pair of defensive rebounds and with one minute to go Rivas Ecopolis' perfect season was nearing its end, 67-61. Rivas was unable to do anything offensively in the final minute, while Good Angels closed with four more points and the win.

Dupree accounted for 27 points on 12-of-16 shooting from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 from the line,  grabbed 12 rebounds and picked off a pair of steals. McCoughtry, who scored 23 points, had five steals and four assists, came two rebounds shy of a double-double. For Rivas, USA National Team hopeful Crystal Langhorne also notched a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Group D
Still undefeated Spartak Moscow Region (7-0) continues to dominate. This time it was Fenerbache (5-3) that felt the wrath of the three-time defending EuroLeague champs to a tune of 103-59. Frisco Sika Brno (5-3) defeated Tarbes GB (2-6) 83-68 and is sitting in third place in the group, with a playoff berth assured. What is not assured, however, is the No. 4 slot. Three teams, including Tarbes GB , LOTOS Gdynia (2-6) and Szeviép (2-5) still have a chance to advance.

Spartak Moscow Region 103, Fenerbahce 59
The golden duo of Sylvia Fowles and Diana Taurasi combined for 33 points in helping lead Spartak to another blowout, a 103-59 win over Fenerbache. Spartak never trailed as it opened with a 15-2 run and never looked back. By the end of the first quarter Spartak led 25-14, upped it to 57-33 at the half, 87-46 at the end of the third quarter and sailed through the fourth frame for the win. Six players scored in double figures for Spartak, including 20 points from Taurasi, 18 from the USA's Janel McCarville, 13 from Fowles and Latvian Anete Jekabsone-Zogota; and Russians Marina Karpurina and Kelly Miller scored 10 points each. For Fener, Turkish national Nevriye Yilmaz finished with 15 points, Nicole Powell scored 14 and Australia's Penny Taylor had 11.

Frisco Sika Brno 83, Tarbes GB 68
American DeWanna Bonner had a monstrous 19-point, 21-rebound double-double, both of which are season highs, in leading Frisco Sika Brno to an 83-68 victory over Tarbes GB. Brno utilized a 10-3 run to break a 28-28 tie in the second quarter and go up 38-31 with four minutes to play before the half. By the midway break Brno's lead was a more comfortable 48-38. Continuing to distance themselves with a 17-12 third quarter, Brno cruised through the fourth for the win. Also scoring in double digits for the home team were Czech nationals Hana Horakova with 16 to go with six assists and Eva Viteckova with 11 points; while USA World Championship gold medalist Taj McWilliams-Franklin contributed nine points.  Charde Houston posted a game-best and season-high 29 points and also had eight boards and three steals for the visiting French club.

Szeviép 71, Lotos Gdynia 58
Szeviép picked up its second win of the season to remain in the playoff hunt with a 71-58 victory over Lotos Gdynia. Ukranian Olena Zherzherunova was the leading scorer for the Hungarian club, which has no Americans on its roster, while Ivana Matovic lead four players in double digits for Lotos with 13 points. USA National Team hopefuls Shameka Christon and Alana Beard scored 10 and eight points, respectively. The hosts shot 42.8 percent from 3-point (6-14 3pt FGs) and held Lotos to a frigid 17.6 percent from 3-piont (3-17 3pt FGs).