What is the story about?
The second round of EuroLeague Women group play is underway, and Spanish club Casademont Zaragoza is out to prove that they’re giant-killers.
Last week, Zaragoza pulled off a thrilling comeback, stunning championship contenders Valencia Basket Club after trailing by as many as 20 points. Carla Leite played perhaps the best basketball of her young career, fueling a 26-0 Zaragoza run with clutch shotmaking down the stretch, and despite trailing for nearly the entire game—just over 36 minutes, to be exact—Zaragoza
came out victorious.
Zaragoza now faces an even bigger challenge in Fenerbahçe Opet, who remain undefeated (7-0) after cruising to a win over Umana Reyer Venezia. Fenerbahçe welcomed reigning EuroLeague Women Defensive Player of the Year Gabby Williams back to their ranks, and it didn’t take her long to get up to speed; Williams finished the game with 19 points and five steals and shot 8-for-10 from the field.
With a stacked roster that includes Williams, Emma Meesseman, Kayla McBride and other big names, Fenerbahçe will once again be favored this week. Does Zaragoza stand a chance? As we saw last week, just about anything can happen, though it would be quite a surprise to see Fenerbahçe fall.
As always, the action unfolds live and for free on FIBA’s EuroLeague Women YouTube channel; let’s go through this week’s matchups and highlight the most important things to watch for.
Wednesday, December 17
Tango Bourges Basket (5-2) vs. Galatasaray Çağdaş Faktoring (6-1)
- When: 12 p.m. ET
- Where: Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey
- How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream
- Players to watch: Monique Akoa Makani, Kariata Diaby, Tima Pouye (Tango Bourges Basket); Marine Johannès, Elizabeth Williams, Dorka Juhász, Awak Kuier, Kamiah Smalls (Galatasaray Çağdaş Faktoring)
- Matchup details: Galatasaray dropped its first game of the season last week, committing 19 turnovers and looking surprisingly sluggish overall against Praha. They’re still waiting on a breakout game from Johannès, who has made just two shots in her first two games with the club. Bourges, on the other hand, had little trouble with Carolo, shooting 53.5 percent from the field and 47.4 percent on 3-pointers en route to a 28-point win over their French rivals. Galatasaray may be the bigger name and have more international star power in this matchup, but they won’t be able to take many plays off against a well-rounded Bourges club that’s currently leading the competition in rebounding (41.9 per game).
Spar Girona (6-1) vs. Flammes Carolo Basket (2-5)
- When: 1:30 p.m. ET
- Where: Caisse d’Épargne Aréna in Charleville-Mézières, France
- How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream
- Players to watch: Laeticia Amihere, Justė Jocytė, Arica Carter, Mariam Coulibaly, Klara Holm (Spar Girona); Liz Dixon, Maïa Hirsch, Noémie Brochant, Isabelle Strunc (Flammes Carolo Basket)
- Matchup details: Girona continued to roll last week, defeating a well-rounded Schio club fairly convincingly, and are now in a position to improve to 7-1 by preying on the weakest team in Group E. Carolo had a better-than-expected run through the first round and played better than their record suggests, but it’s possible that they’ll just be outmatched against the competition’s stronger clubs. To keep this game competitive, Carolo will need to control the pace of play; Girona ranks second in EuroLeague Women in scoring (81.4 points per game) and field goal percentage (48 percent) and is shooting 82.5 percent from the free throw line as a team, so limiting those easy opportunities will be mandatory for anyone trying to beat them.
ZVVZ USK Praha (4-3) vs. Beretta Famila Schio (4-3)
- When: 2 p.m. ET
- Where: Palazzetto Livio Rómare in Schio, Italy
- How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream
- Players to watch: Janelle Salaün, Bridget Carleton, Kaitlyn Chen, Valeriane Ayayi, Maite Cazorla, Pauline Astier (ZVVZ USK Praha); Jessica Shepard, Cecilia Zandalasini, Kitija Laksa, Marième Badiane, Maria Conde, Anete Steinberga (Beretta Famila Schio)
- Matchup details: Praha has had an up-and-down start to the season but still has enough of a veteran nucleus to make some noise here in the second round, most recently defeating Galatasaray despite shooting just 32.9 percent from the field. The defending champs will likely need a better offensive effort against Schio, however; the Italian club has scorers both on the interior and the perimeter and does a good job at creating assisted shots (21 assists per game; third in EuroLeague Women). In this case, the records of the two teams don’t lie—this game should be one of the week’s most competitive.
Thursday, December 18
Valencia Basket Club (4-3) vs. Basket Landes (5-2)
- When: 1:30 p.m. ET
- Where: Espace François Mitterrand in Mont-de-Marsan, France
- How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream
- Players to watch: Leonie Fiebich, Nia Coffey, Awa Fam, Kayla Alexander, Raquel Carrera, Hind Ben Abdelkader, Leticia Romero (Valencia Basket Club); Leïla Lacan, Julie Wojta, Murjanatu Musa (Basket Landes)
- Matchup details: It should go without saying that Valencia will be looking to bounce back after being on the wrong end of Zaragoza’s comeback. On paper, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be a strong contender; they have size, shooting and a good mix of veterans and youth, and they rank near the top of the competition in most offensive categories. Landes is a team that can make things tough for any opponent, however, and though almost every game they’ve played in has been close, they’re coming out on top of those nail-biters more often than not. Valencia will need to win the rebounding battle to keep Landes from hanging around; remarkably, all but one of Landes’ players is averaging at least one offensive rebound per game, and as a team they’re pulling down an average of 14, which leads EuroLeague Women.
DVTK HUNTHERM (1-6) vs. Umana Reyer Venezia (4-3)
- When: 1:30 p.m. ET
- Where: Palasport Taliercio in Venezia, Italy
- How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream
- Players to watch: Kathryn Westbeld, Nina Aho, Monika Grigalauskyte, Paula Ginzo (DVTK HUNTHERM); Kaila Charles, Lorela Cubaj, Joyner Holmes, Stephanie Mavunga, Ivana Dojkic (Umana Reyer Venezia)
- Matchup details: Venezia ran into a buzzsaw last week, losing a wire-to-wire blowout to Fenerbahçe that was among the most lopsided games of the season thus far. They should have a much easier time against DVTK, who are still stuck on one win and face an uphill battle in the second round of group play. The Hungarian club’s miscues have been their undoing, as they average the most turnovers (17.3) and fouls per game (20.9) of the competition’s remaining teams. Simply put, DVTK doesn’t have a talented enough roster to overcome that. Expect Venezia to get back on track in this one.
Fenerbahçe Opet (7-0) vs. Casademont Zaragoza (4-3)
- When: 2 p.m. ET
- Where: Pabellón Príncipe Felipe in Zaragoza, Spain
- How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream
- Players to watch: Emma Meesseman, Kayla McBride, Gabby Williams, Megan Gustafson, Julie Allemand, Iliana Rupert, Sevgi Uzun (Fenerbahçe Opet); Carla Leite, Stephanie Mawuli, Helena Pueyo, Mariona Ortiz, Nadia Fingall (Casademont Zaragoza)
- Matchup details: Zaragoza’s improbable comeback win against Valencia was a big story, and rightfully so—it’s not every day you see a 20-point comeback, especially at this level. Against Fenerbahçe, though, the trick will be to not fall so far behind in the first place. After last week’s blowout against Venezia, Fenerbahçe is now winning its games by an average of 32 points, illustrating just how far ahead of the rest of the field they are. The competition gets tougher in the second round of group play, and Fenerbahçe will inevitably run into a challenge at some point, but they should be put in a tier all their own until that happens.
