Augustus, Whalen Arrive in Europe, Help Teams to Wins

Nov. 8, 2012

Stats Don't Lie
Five of the top six EuroLeague scoring leaders are Americans who have won at least one gold medal playing for USA Basketball. Diana Taurasi, yet again, tops the charts at an even 25.0 points per game. Sitting at No. 2 is Shenise Johnson (22.0 ppg.), who won gold with the 2009 USA U19 World Championship Team; No. 4 Nneka Ogwumike (19.3 ppg.) is a 2009 U19 and 2011 USA World University Games gold medalist; No. 5 DeWanna Bonner (19.0 ppg.) won gold at the 2007 FIBA U21 Worlds; and 2010 FIBA World Championship gold medalist Candice Dupree (18.7 ppg.) rounds out the top six scorers. Click here to see how your favorite USA Basketball players stack up against their Euro counterparts.

Players of the Week
USA Basketball National Team members Candice Dupree and Diana Taurasi have each snagged one EuroLeague Player of the Week honor in the first two weeks of the season. Who will be Week 3 PoW? Find out tomorrow when FIBA Europe makes the announcement.

Missed it by That Much!
A 32-point, 14-rebound performance from Tina Charles in her 2012-13 EuroLeague debut wasn’t quite enough, as Wisla Can Pack Krakow (0-3) remained winless after suffering a 77-74 overtime defeat at the hands of BK Imos Brno (1-1). Brno, which received 24 points from Swede Farihiya Abdi, got an all-around effort from Nicole Ohlde, who posted a double-double of 18 points, 13 rebounds and five steals.  Wisla is going to have to pull out some big wins over the next few weeks if it hopes to stay in the playoff hunt. On the upside, the Polish club’s three losses came by a mere 4.7 points per game, which should give them hope in future games.

Comeback Kid
Diana Taurasi scored 25 points for the second week in a row to help UMMC Ekaterinburg (2-0) collect a 78-71 victory over still winless ZVVZ USK Prague (0-3). Trailing 38-31 at halftime, Ekat outscored the hosts 12-4 to open the third quarter, including a pair of threes from Taurasi, and eventually won the third 30-16 to take a 61-54 advantage heading into the final stanza. In all, Taurasi hit for 13 of her game-high 25 points in the third set. The game was also won with the help of Candace Parker, who recorded 11 points and eight rebounds; while Americans Rebekkah Brunson (12 points, five rebounds) and Kia Vaughn (nine points, four rebounds) were on the losing end of the battle.

Upset Kids
Led by DeWanna Bonner’s 16 points and nine boards, including the go-ahead jumper with 12 seconds to play, Nadezhda (2-1) held off Fenerbache (1-1) 65-64 to improve to 2-1 on the season. The home team outscored the Turkish side 23-9 in the second quarter to go up 38-35 at halftime. Trailing 52-47 heading into the final stanza, Fener worked its way into the lead and with 29 seconds to play, a pair of Angel McCoughtry free throws gave the visitors a 64-63 edge. However, Bonner’s jumper with 12 seconds to play iced the victory for Nadezhda, as the Russian team held off its opponents for the win. McCoughtry scored 15 points and Cappie Pondexter chipped in 14 for Fenerbache, while Bonner closed the night with 16 points and nine rebounds and Renee Montgomery had 10 points and five assists in the win.

Whalen’s Gala Debut
Galatasaray (3-0), which saw the season debut of Lindsay Whalen, fended off a late surge by a determined CCC Polkowice (1-2) squad and the result was a 50-48 road victory. In securing the victory, which saw several last second misses by CCC, Gala smothered Nnemkadi Ogwumike defensively, pitting her against veterans Sancho Lyttle and Ann Wauters in holding Ogwumike to 15 points and six rebounds.  Whalen scored eight points and dished out four assists in her 2012-13 EuroLeague debut.

Augustus Arrives, Gets Straight to Work
Seimone Augustus returned to EuroLeague action this week and teamed with Candice Dupree to help lead Spartak Moscow Region Vidnoje (3-0) to an overwhelming 74-56 victory over previously unbeaten Uni Gyor (2-1). Playing just 15 minutes, Augustus scored 11 points and dished out three assists, while Dupree was credited with eight points and six boards in 17 minutes.

In Other EuroLeague Games …
The largest margin of Wednesday’s games was owned by Bourges Basket (2-1), which went up 38-24 at halftime and cruised in for an 11-point, 60-49, victory over Rivas Ecopolis (1-1) in France. French’s Olympic silver medalist Celine Dumerc scored a game-best 19 points in the win … Trailing by 10 at halftime, Famila Schio (3-0) roared out of the locker room in the third quarter to knot the score 48-all with 10 minutes to play and went ahead for the 66-60 victory over UE Sopron (1-2). Danielle McCray and Jantel Lavender scored 12 and six points, respectively, for the winning side, while Shenise ‘Mo Mo’ Johnson had a 21-point, 10-rebound performance for UE Sopron … Despite falling behind 58-50 at the end of the third quarter, Good Angels Kosice (2-1) came back for a slim 70-67 victory over Arras (0-2). Good Angels was helped in its win by 16 points from former DePaul standout Allie Quigley … USO Mondeville (2-0) remained undefeated after downing Perfumerias Avenida (1-2) 73-64 in France. Amanda Lassiter led the French squad with 21 points, while Marta Fernandez scored 16 for Avenida.