Seeing Double

Jan 21, 2010 - 2009-10 EuroLeague Results & Standings

Following her WNBA Rookie of the Year season, Angel McCoughtry set her sights on taking over Europe. Maybe it was fate, but she landed at Good Angels Kosice in Slovakia in time for the team's third game of the season. Joining EuroLeague All-Star and fellow USA Basketball Women's National Team hopeful Candice Dupree, McCoughtry and Good Angels dropped that game, marking a 0-3 start.

However, behind Angel and Candice, the team turned the corner in time to qualify for the Sweet Sixteen. Winners of their last three and six of their last seven games, Good Angels have a great one-two punch in Dupree and McCoughtry. The duo averages a combined 41.8 points, 19.6 rebounds and 4.7 steals a game. Those totals account for over half Kosice's point (71.9 ppg.) and rebound (36.7 rpg.) production, and close to half of the team's steals (10.7 spg.).

Dupree this week posted her seventh double-double in 10 games and McCoughtry hit her second consecutive and second overall double-double this week. Plus, McCoughtry has come up with no less than three steals in each of her eight games and is currently ranked No. 2 among all EuroLeague participants for steals (3.3 spg.).

Suffice it to say, things are looking up for a team that prior to this season owned an abysmal 12-34 record in four EuroLeague campaigns (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009). The club had its best finish last season, going 6-4 in the preliminary round and advancing to the Eighth-Finals for the first time in history. Their postseason was short-lived, however, as Kosice was throttled by eventual Final Four participant Ros Casares Valencia.

Good Angels finished 6-4 again this season, but won't face down Ros in the next round. Dupree, McCoughtry & Co. were ranked 10th among the 16 advancing teams and go head-to-head against the 7-3 Beretta-Famila Schio, ranked 7th, in the best-of-three series. That team features former Maryland star Marissa Coleman (6.1 ppg.) of the WNBA Washington Mystics and Italian national Larura Macchi (16.5 ppg.), the team's top scorer.

The series should go the full three games, but we give the advantage to the young stars of Good Angels Kosice.

Vote Now for the 2010 EuroLeague All-Star Game!
The voting booth is now open for the 2010 EuroLeague All-Star Game and it's not only legal, but expected that people will vote more than once. But you're only allowed to vote only once per day (per computer), so make sure you start each day with a vote for one of the following USA National Team members or USA National Team hopefuls for inclusing on the 2010 Rest of the World Team! VOTE NOW!!! And Vote Daily to see your favorite players in the March 9 contest!

Watch Games Online!
Don't forget that you can watch games live online. Check it out!
http://www.livescorehunter.com/Livescores/Livescore-Basketball.html

Istanbul, Not Constantinople
Two updates ago it was Tina Thompson and Sue Bird, last week Candace Parker got into the Euro game. Joining the party soon will be the USA's two-time Olympic gold medalist Tamika Catchings. Catchings is heading over to Istanbul, Turkey, to help Galatasaray in its playoff run. She didn't play in this week's loss, but is expected to suit up for its quarterfinal match-up on Feb. 2. Gala was short players, only sending in nine in today's loss, and will be able to use Catchings in its playoff lineup. Gala's center Yelena Leuchanka did not travel (knee) with the team this week, and former Texas Tech standout and Chicago Sky guard Jia Perkins returned home this week because of a family matter, according to FIBAEurope.com.

A Perfect 10
Everything fell into place in the 10th and final qualifying week of EuroLeague action. Spartak Moscow, behind the golden trio of Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Diana Tauarsi, upped its record to a perfect 10-0. As expected, UMMC Ekaterinburg earned its ninth victory with the help of CP-squared (that would be the USA's Candace Parker and Cappie Pondexter). Wisla Can-Pack eked out a close one to remain atop Group C with a 9-1 mark and take the No. 3 seed heading into the quarterfinals.

Stats Shakedown
Despite her ‘low' point output this week with ‘just' 17, Diana Taurasi remains the league's top scorer for the 10th consecutive week. She's averaging 22.8 points per game, with Angel McCoughtry nipping at her heels at 21.6 ppg. Rounding out the top five scoring leaders are Candice Dupree (20.2 ppg.), Renee Montgomery (17.6 ppg.) and Sophia Young (17.4 ppg.). Janel Burse, who had been in the top five scorers for several weeks and dropped all the way to sixth for points (17.2 ppg.), owns the top rebounding spot with an 11.4 rpg. average. She's being closely followed by Dupree (11.3 rpg.), while Sancho Lyttle (10.5 rpg.), Milka Bjelica (9.2 rpg.) and Crystal Langhorne (8.7 rpg.) round out the top five.

To the Eighth-Finals (Sweet Sixteen) and Beyond!
The EuroLeague Sweet Sixteen will be played in a best-of-three series with the top seed getting home court advantage as hosts for the first and (if necessary) third game. The round is slated to be played Feb. 2, Feb. 5 and (if necessary) Feb. 10. The Quarterfinals, also a best-of-three series, will be played Feb. 23, Feb. 26 and (if necessary) March 3. The Final Four semifinal games will be played on April 9, while the consolation and championship contests will be played April 11.

In the EuroLeague, unlike in a World Championship, you don't necessarily get the No. 1 seed from Group A facing the No. 4 seed from Group B. Instead, a team's overall record is taken into consideration with FIBA's tie-breaking formula being used to determine the seeding for teams with the same mark. Thus, UMMC Ekaterinburg received the No. 2 overall seed and Wisla Can-Pack, with an identical 9-1 record, dropped to No. 3. See the box at right for the complete list of rankings and Sweet Sixteen pairings.

Week 10 Game Recaps

Group A
All three games in Group A this week were lopsided. UMMC Ekaterinburg (9-1), which suffered its lone loss to Ros Casares in Week 3, upped its winning streak to seven with a 92-53 victory over already-eliminated TTT Riga (2-8). As expected, Ros Casares Valencia (8-2) also claimed a win, drubbing Galatasaray (4-6) 77-47, while Cras Basket Taranto (6-4) took TEO Vilnius (1-9) 81-53. Advancing out of Group A are: UMMC Ekaterinburg, Ros Casares, Cras Basket Taranto and Galatasaray Istanbul.

UMMC Ekaterinburg 92, TTT Riga 53
The home team led from start to finish, owned a 50-27 lead at the midway break and rolled through the finish line for the 92-53 win over TTT Riga. Ekat was led by former UConn star Svetlana Abrosimova's 21 points, France and Connecticut Sun forward Sandrine Gruda posted 18 points and six rebounds, while the USA's Candace Parker and Cappie Pondexter posted 14 and nine points, respectively. American Lisa Willis came up with 13 points for TTT Riga. Ekaterinburg shot a very efficient 72.2 percent (26-26 2pt FGs) from inside the arc, while holding TTT Riga to just 33.3 percent from 2-point range.

-It was very important for us to start the game properly," Parker told FIBAEurope.com. -And the starting five worked effectively, and handily put the team into the game. The rest of the game went on according to the plan."

Cras Basket Taranto 81, TEO Vilnius 53
Powered by former USA National Team member Rebekkah Brunson's 20 points and nine boards, the Italian hosts reeled off 11 uncontested points to open the contest and never looked back en route to a dominating 81-53 victory over TEO Vilnius.

USA National Team hopeful Lindsey Harding, who scored Vilnius' first 10 points, finished with 23 and was her team's lone double-digit scoring player. 

Ros Casares 77, Galatasaray 47
Former WNBA Houston Comet standout and current Spain National Team member Amaya Valdemoro poured in 23 points as Ros Casares led from wire to wire in a 77-47 defeat of a shorthanded Galatasaray team. Two-time Olympic gold medalist DeLisha Milton-Jones and Brazil's Erika de Souza of the Atlanta Dream each contributed 14 points in the victory. Sophia Young was the only member of the Turkish team to score in double digits, hitting for 20 points.

Group B
Wisla Can-Pack held on for a one-point, 85-84 victory over Gospic Croatia (1-9) and heads into the Sweet Sixteen with a 9-1 slate. The other two games were wide open as MiZo (4-6) trounced ESB Lille (1-9) 94-42 and Halcon Avenida (8-2) solidified its No. 2 position with an 80-62 win over Beretta-Famila (7-3). Moving on from Group B are: Wisla Can-Pack, Halcon Avenida, Beretta-Famila, which advanced to the next round for the first time, and MiZo Pecs 2010.

Wisla Can-Pack 85, Gospic Croatia 84
After a pair of last-second shots missed their mark, Wisla Can-Pack breathed a sigh of relief and held on for the 85-84 victory over Gospic Croatia. Janel Burse (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Poland's Ewelina Kobryn (15 points, 14 rebounds) posted a pair of double-doubles in the win, while Carla Thomas and Croatian Jelena Ivezic each scored 23 points for Gospic. The game was tight from the start and by halftime everything was even at 46-all. Wisla entered the fourth quarter up 63-61, but with five minutes to play the score was again tied, 71-71. Burse made a pair from the line to put her team ahead for good at 4:54, and with 2:03 to play the visitors were up by six, 82-76. Gospic fought back as Thomas made a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch and the hosts pulled to 85-84 with 49 seconds to play. However, a pair of missed shots in the final seconds doomed Gospic as Wisla eked out the win.

MiZo Pecs 2010 94, ESB Lille Metropole 42
In a game that was never close, MiZo Pecs led the entire game and jumped out to a14-2 lead in under four minutes of play. By the end of the first quarter the home side was up 23-9 and by halftime the score was a lopsided 47-18. If the French squad had any hopes of making a dent in the second half, they were quickly squashed. Mizo outscored ESB Lille 23-4 in the third quarter and cruised through the fourth for the win. Hungarian Anna Vajda posted highs of 29 points and nine rebounds in the win, while Americans Allie Quigley and Nicole Ohlde added 12 and 10 points, respectively, and Hungary's Dalma Ivanyi dished out 10 points for MiZo. Senegal's Emilie Gomis scored 13 points and Lady Comfort chipped in eight for ESB.

Halcon Avenida Salamanca 80, Beretta-Famila Schio 62
After a third-quarter comeback attempt by the visitors, Halcon Avenida prevailed in Salamanca for an 80-62 victory over Beretta-Famila Schio. The hosts owned a comfortable 15-point, 42-27, lead heading into the locker room. The Italian squad whittled away at the deficit through most of the third quarter and with 2:17 to play in the period, pulled ahead 48-47 on a Mudju Ngoyisa jumper. The Atlanta Dream's Sancho Lyttle, who shot for 5-of-6 from the line on the night, hit both her tries from the line at 1:45 to retake the lead for good, 49-48. Halcon Avenida, back on track, closed the third quarter with a 7-2 run for a 56-50 lead heading into the final period. That was the momentum the hosts needed as Halcon outscored Beretta-Famila 24-12 in the fourth for the eventual 80-62 victory.

Halcon was paced by Lyttle's 25-point, 11-rebound performance; Spain's Alba Torrens came just one board shy of a double-double with 23 points and nine rebounds; and Le'Coe Willingham tossed in 15 points. For Beretta-Famila, Italian Laura Macchi scored 16 points, France's Nicole Antibe had 14, Italian Raffaella Masciadri added 13 and Ngoyisa finished with 12.

Group C
Good Angels Kosice (6-4), currently on a three-game winning streak and own a 6-1 mark in its last seven games, finished the round with a 95-88 victory over basement-dwelling KSSSE AZS-PWSZ Gorzow (3-7), ZVVZ USK Prague (5-5) finished the round at .500 after edging MKB Euroleasing Sopron (4-6) 96-93, while Bourges Basket (5-5) also upped its mark to .500 after handing Rivas Ecópolis (7-3) its third defeat of the season, 66-58. It also marked the third loss in a row for the upstart Rivas squad, which opened the season on a 7-0 run. It's got to get off the schneid if there's to be advancement to the Elite Eight. Advancing from Group C are: Rivas Ecópolis, Good Angels Kosice, ZVVZ USK Prague and Bourges Basket.

Good Angels Kosice 95, KSSSE AZS-PWSZ Gorzow 88
Candice Dupree recorded her seventh double-double of the season and Angel McCoughtry posted her second to lead Good Angels Kosice to a 95-88 victory over KSSSE AZS-PWSZ Gorzow. The duo accounted for 43 points and 29 rebounds with Dupree posting 22 points and 19 boards, and McCoughtry adding 21 points and 10 rebounds to go with her five assists and three steals.

Host Gorzow went ahead 35-23 at the end of the first quarter, but the Slovakian club came back to close to 53-51 at the half. The third quarter remained tight as the lead changed six times and with 3:48 to go the score was tied for the third time, 65-65. KSSSE AZS-PWSK surged ahead with 10 straight points, but Dupree stopped the bleeding at 1:27. By the end of the period, the hosts remained in the lead, 77-70.

After a Dupree block to start the first period, McCoughtry was fouled on a put-back and converted for the 3-point play. Following a miss on the other end, McCoughtry got a second straight tip-in, then picked New York Liberty's Sidney Spencer's pocket and her teammate Lucia Kupcikova converted for two points as the Good Angels tied it up at 77-all. At 5:36 Spencer hit a jumper to tie the game again, 80-80, but 23 seconds later Miljana Musovic countered to give her team the lead for good, 82-80. The game remained close and with just over two minutes remaining, the Slovakian team's lead was a slim 84-83. Kosice hit back-to-back 3-pointers, one of which came at the hands of Dupree, in an 8-0 spurt to open the game up 92-83 with a little over a minute to play. That's all the Kosice team needed as it held on for the win.

'Gorzów played very well," Dupree told FIBAEurope.com. -But my team played better. Miljana Musovic, Lucia Kupcikova and Angel McCoughtry played great."

In addition to the efforts of Dupree and McCoughtry, Good Angels received 18 points from Musovic and 12 from Kupickova. The Polish side was led by Liudmila Sapova's 22 points, while Spencer finished with 16 points and nine rebounds.

ZVVZ USK Prague 96, MKB Euroleasing Sopron 93
In a fight to the finish, USA National Team hopeful Lindsay Whalen scored 18 of her 28 points in the second half as ZVVZ USK Prague came up with the 96-93 victory to knock 2009 Final Four participant MKB Euroleasing Sopron out of playoff contention. Serbian power forward Jelena Milovanovic led all scorers with 31 points for Sopron.
-It was important that we start the game well," Whalen was quoted on FIBAEurope.com. -In the second half Sopron used a lot of power to overtake us, but we seemed strong and could save few points until the end."

Prague held a one-point, 46-45, lead heading into halftime and upped that to 71-64 at the end of the third quarter. However, the hosts made a 7-2 run to open the fourth quarter and closed to 73-71 at 7:53. Prague, which never gave up the lead in the final stanza, received seven points from Whalen in a stretch that saw the visitors extend their lead to 88-80 with 3:16 to play. The hosts made one final push and clipped the gap to 94-93 after a Milovanovic 3-pointer and the clock ticking down. Sopron fouled Whalen with two seconds left on the clock. She made both to virtually seal the win and advance her team to the next round.

In addition to her 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and 8-of-11 from the line, Whalen contributed seven rebounds, four assists and five steals.

Bourges Basket 66, Rivas Ecópolis 58
Bourges never trailed after the opening 2:39, went up 19-11 in the first quarter and held onto its buffer for the 66-58 victory over Rivas Ecópolis. Emmeline Ndongue had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Essence Carson added 13 points in the win. Rivas, which needs to turn things around quickly, was led with 11 points apiece from Catherine Joens and Spain's Anna Cruz, while USA National Team hopeful Crystal Langhorne added nine points and nine rebounds.

Group D
With nothing but its undefeated record at stake, Group D leader Spartak Moscow Region (10-0) upped its mark with an 85-60 drubbing of Lotos Gdynia (3-7), Frisca Sika Brno (6-4) improved its standings with a 69-61 win over Szeviép (2-8) 69-61, and Fenerbache (7-3) collected an 82-69 win against the visiting Tarbes GB (2-8). In addition to Spartak, advancing out of Group D are: Fenerbache, Frisco Sika Brno and Lotos.

Spartak Moscow Region 85, Lotos Gdynia 60
Diana Taurasi hit a 3-pointer to start the game as Spartak led from wire-to-wire in an 85-60 win over visiting Lotos Gdynia. Taurasi combined with USA teammates Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles for 14 points as Spartak went up 17-8 in a little over four minutes of action and by the end of the first quarter the game was well in hand, 32-13. From there, Spartak shifted into cruise control for the runaway victory.

Taurasi shot 4-of-7 from 3-point and finished with a team-high 17 points to go with five boards, five assists and a pair of steals in just 26 minutes. Fowles notched her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 boards in 20 minutes of play, Bird chipped in 10 points and dished out five assists, while Serbian Sonja Petrovic had 10 points and Janel McCarville contributed eight points and five boards.

Serbian center Ivana Matovic finished with 17 points and six boards for Lotos.

'I enjoyed the battle that I had against one of the better centers in the EuroLeague, but I especially enjoyed winning against a tough opponent," Fowles said to FIBAEurope.com.

Frisco Sika Brno 69, Szeviép 61
Frisco Sika Brno fought back from a 48-38 third quarter deficit to secure a 69-61 victory over Szeviép. Outscoring the visiting team 13-4 in the last five minutes of the third quarter, Brno reeled the game back in, 52-51, at the break. With eight minutes to play the game was tied at 57-all and over the next two minutes neither team was able to do anything. DeWanna Bonner broke the tie at the line at 5:46 and by the 5:00 mark, Szeviép pulled ahead for its final lead of the game, 59-58. Czech national Hana Horakova sparked a 9-0 run with a 3-pointer at 4:44, Bonner contributed five points in the run, as Brno took complete control, 67-59, with 40 seconds to go.

Czech Eva Viteckova led Brno in the win with 19 points, Bonner added 14 and seven rebounds, while Horakova chipped in 13 points, five boards, three assists and six steals. Ukrainian Olena Zherzherunova scored a team-high 17 points for Szeviép.

Fenerbache 82, Tarbes GB 69
Owning a slim 41-38 halftime margin, and leading by just four points with four minutes left in the third quarter, Fenerbache used its home court advantage to slowly pulled further ahead in defeating Tarbes GB 82-69. Australian Penny Taylor of the WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury scored a game-high 29 points to lead four Fener players in double digits, while American Charde Houston posted a team-high 18 points for Tarbes.