Gameday 2 of the 2025-26 EuroLeague Women competition delivered a surprise loss to the reigning champs and a potential candidate for “Game of the Season.”
It’s still early in the competition, but we can
already see what teams won’t be able to remain as dominant as they were in previous seasons, and which new kids on the block are going to make the most noise.
Game of the season?
Eight lead changes. One team is up by 13, then the other catches up and then is up by eight, only for the game to go into overtime.
20 points by Monique Billings, 19 by Iliana Rupert and eight assists by Julie Allemand for Fenerbahçe.
19-year-old center Awa Fam—a surefire 2026 WNBA Draft lottery pick—scored 17 points off the bench for Valencia. But the best player on her team was Raquel Carrera, the starter in the middle, who had 17 points and the ball in her hands with the opportunity to win the game.
Carrera missed the close shot while being tightly guarded by Rupert, allowing favored Fener to escape with the 75-72 overtime victory. One of the Golden State Valkyries’ breakout players, Rupert was doing it all for Fenerbahçe, minding the basket with 12 boards and going 3-for-6 from 3 to keep her team in the game. She also made the basket that pushed the game to overtime.
In the final part of the game, the Turkish team won thanks to team defense, which wasn’t something out of the norm for the two Valkyries, Rupert and Billings.
They also had great help from Chicago Sky Aussie Bec Allen, who stepped in for absent Emma Meesseman and scored 12 points, all from long distance. Even without their best player, Fener are a problem and remain the clear favorites to win it all.
Surprises abound
Girona were the underdogs in the game against Praha, just as Praha were the underdogs in last season’s semifinal against Fenerbahçe. And just as Praha won last spring, Girona prevailed on Tuesday, taking down the defending champions by a score of 75-60.
Girona’s most promising player is Justė Jocytė, picked No. 5 overall by the Valkyries in the 2025 WNBA Draft. She didn’t score a single point, but her teammates, Swede Klara Holm and (another) fellow Valkyrie in Laeticia Amihere, were there. Holm had 15 points and two huge blocks, while Amihere scored 14.
Girona outrebounded Praha 36 to 26, taking advantage of the shooting struggles of Praha’s star player, Valeriane Ayayi, who missed all 10 of her shots from 3 and was just 1-for-14 overall (seven percent accuracy). It was an extremely rare off performance from the French forward, who’s usually Praha’s top scorer. More Valkyries, Janelle Salaün and Kaitlyn Chen, did what they could for the defending champions, with Salaün scoring 10 points and Chen adding nine.
Olympiakos earned their first win of the season, defeating DVTK 69-57 behind another great game from Eleanna Christinaki, who scored 22 points. The Hungarian team is now 0-2, with a plus/minus of -43. They had a hard time containing the competition’s leading scorer in Christinaki, who, at age 28, is in her prime and playing like it. She was aided by Nausia Woolfolk, who had 12 points and eight assists in the win.
Another surprising outcome was Mersin losing to Basket Landes by one point, 70-69. There were no standout performances for Landes, just solid team play as the French team featuring Leïla Lacan took down a Mersin side stocked with more WNBA talent in Tiffany Hayes, Julie Vanloo, Kennedy Burke and Luisa Geiselsoder.
Reyer Venezia, however, were propelled by powerful performances, as the frontcourt duo of Stephanie Mavunga and Joyner Holmes combined for 42 points and 12 boards in a win over Zaragoza, 84-80. Both teams delivered another close game with a somewhat surprising result, considering how great Zaragoza looked last week. It was a game that certainly would stand out more if it wasn’t for the Valencia-Fener masterclass.
Gameday 2 results
Group A
- Tango Bourges Basket 57, VBW Gdynia 53
- Spar Girona 75, ZVVZ USK Praha 60
Group B
- Beretta Famila Schio 82, Sopron Basket 65
- Galatasaray Çağdaş Faktoring 62, Flammes Carolo Basket 56
Group C
- Olympiacos SFP 69, DVTK HUNTHERM 57
- Fenerbahçe Opet 75, Valencia Basket Club 72
Group D
- Basket Landes 70, ÇİMSA ÇBK Mersin 69
- Umana Reyer Venezia 84, Casademont Zaragoza 80
Currently, the competition’s only four undefeated teams lead their respective groups: Girona (Group A), Galatasaray (Group B), Fenerbahçe (Group C) and Venezia (Group D). The full group standings are available here.
