Overseas Update - Oct. 13

We begin this week in France, where Tarbes survived a scare from Villeneuve d'Ascq, winning 71-69 Saturday to remain undefeated at 5-0 and tied atop the LFB league table with Bourges. Tanisha Wright tied for game-high honors with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting and seven assists.

Kelly Santos helped Cadi La Seu d'Urgell get off the schneid in LEB play, beating Gran Canaria 66-57 on Saturday. Matched up against a former Storm training-camp invitee, Eva Montesdeoca, Santos had 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting and eight boards. Montesdeoca grabbed 11 rebounds, but scored just four points. Through three weeks, Santos is third in the LEB in scoring (17.7 ppg) and also in the top 10 in field-goal percentage (63.3 percent).

In Russia, SuperLeague play kicked off Friday. In her first regular-season game, Janell Burse had 17 points and 11 rebounds but Dynamo Moscow fell to Nadezhda 86-82. Neither Sue Bird nor Lauren Jackson were not around for the opener, but Spartak still cruised 79-55 past Dynamo-GUVD with Tatiana Shchegoleva, Sylvia Fowles and Kelly Miller scoring double-figures.

Jackson was, as of the end of the Storm's season, scheduled to fly to Russia today in time for Spartak's Euroleague opener on Thursday (also Bird's 28th birthday). Before she left Australia, Jackson spoke to the Daily Telegraph, telling the paper she's considering not playing in the WNBA in 2012 leading up to the London Olympics.

"But for me now I think something I really need to look at is not going back to the WNBA in Olympic years and, instead, focusing on our team, just being around and getting to know people, building relationships. I'll try and be more of a leader, more of a captain," she said. "Leading up to the Olympics, I'll go on European tours with the team, do all that stuff. I think that's my next step."

Friday also saw the UL Aughnish open up play in the Basketball Ireland SuperLeague, defeating newcomers Leisureworld Churchfield Iona 64-45 behind 25 points from the Storm's Kristen O'Neill.