Monday, December 8, 2008

Showdown in France

Tarbes Bigorre Elite and Bourges Basket have established themselves as France's top two teams, and they met for the first time Saturday. Tanisha Wright's Tarbes squad built a 16-point halftime lead and fought off a Bourges comeback attempt for a 64-56 victory. Wright's 17 points tied her for game high honors, and she added six rebounds and three assists. The win means Tabes and Bourges are now tied atop the French LFB at 12-1 apiece.

After a couple weeks off in Russia, Spartak resumed Superleague play yesterday with an 83-62 win over Vologda-Chevakata. The visitors were able to keep things reasonably close in the first half before Spartak outscored them 28-13 in the third quarter to blow the game open. Lauren Jackson continued her hot shooting, scoring 19 points on 6-of-11 from the field in fewer than 18 minutes of action. Sue Bird, with 15, was Spartak's second-leading scorer. She knocked down all three of her attempts from long distance and added four rebounds and three assists.

Earlier in the week, Vologda-Chevakata also took on Dynamo Moscow. It was a closer matchup, but Dynamo ultimately prevailed 78-73 on the strength of a 21-9 fourth-quarter advantage. Janell Burse paced Dynamo with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Kelly Santos had one of her best games of the season Saturday, scoring 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting (with a matching 8-of-10 effort at the free-throw line). Alas, it wasn't enough as Cadi La Seu fell 79-73 to a Joventut Mariana squad which got 22 points from Armintie Price.

Similarly, TED Kayseri Koleji saw Camille Little's high-scoring effort go for naught. Little scored 27 and Lisa Willis added 18, but their teammates combined for just 21 points in an 81-66 loss to Mersin. By contrast, Mersin's balanced scoring saw five players score at least nine points, led by 17 from new Chicago Sky post Mistie Williams. Little shot 11-of-22 from the field and added seven rebounds.

ZVVZ USK Praha played extremely short-handed over the weekend, with Swin Cash one of four regulars sitting out. As a result, a game against second-division squad Karlovy Vary was more exciting than anticipated, with USK Praha hanging on for the 82-74 win behind 22 points from Lindsay Whalen.

In Greece, Athinaikos cruised to 9-0 in league play, crushing Ano Liosia 100-65. Katie Gearlds was one of five Athinaikos players to score double-figures, finishing with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting. She added three rebounds.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kevin - Is Katie ok in Athens??? I have been seeing where the is a lot of riots??!??