Canadians in EuroLeague Women: January 18th - 24th

Three gamedays in the group stage of this year's Euroleague Women season. Three teams with Canadian players taking part. Plenty of action and exciting moments as they fought for a place in the competition's knockout phase.

Michelle Plouffe & Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, Lyon ASVEL

Past meetings between ASVEL and Gdynia have seen sparks fly and they did not disappoint when they met in game four of Group B. Gdynia opened the game with a 7-0 run but unfazed Lyon soon went in front and, playing the better defence and outscoring their opponents in the paint, held on to that advantage until the final quarter, when the game suddenly turned on its head.

Nine down at the start of the fourth, Gdynia would go one up with four minutes left. ASVEL quickly regained their lead but just a point stood between the teams as they entered the final minute of the game.

After Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe brought the gap to three with a layup and on the other end, Barbora Balintova missed two successive three-point attempts which could have saved the game for Gdynia, but instead saw them lose narrowly, 79 points to 76.

Starter Michelle Plouffe’s 8 points were eclipsed from Nayo Raincock Ekunwe’s 15 off the bench against Gdynia. The Canadian unit of ASVEL did not fare quite so well in their next game against USK Praha: Plouffe had seven points and just six for Raincock-Ekunwe. Fortunately their team were there to make up the scoring for them, in particular the bench players who scored 47 points between them against the Czech side.

Stronger play in the low post saw Lyon surge ahead in the second quarter and despite playing far better defence and getting a lot of second-chance points, Praha could not touch their opponents here. The French club kept themselves afloat throughout three quarters to close out the game with an 85-74 victory.

More drama was to be had for Lyon in game six against Fenerbahce: the Turkish club held a comfortable lead, thanks in part to 18 points and 10 rebounds from Alina Iagupova, but their hold on the game started to look shaky when it came to crunch time.

ASVEL went six down in the final quarter to five up following a 6-0 run with a final contribution from Michelle Plouffe. She and the team worked to close out the game with this lead intact, but Fenerbahce held their nerve and got to within two points before Kayla McBridge tied the scores in the final minute.

With seconds left Iagupova stole the ball and layed it up into her own basket. Sara Chevaugeon tried to win the game in the last second with a three, but falling short, victory would be Fenerbahce's, 67-65. Plouffe posted 8 points and 10 total boards in her team's loss, but they still made it to the next round of competition in Group B second place behind their final opponents.

Lyon's efforts earned them a play-off spot, where they will be facing Sopron Basket in a two-game series to decide who will take another step towards the Euroleague title.

Natalie Achonwa, PF Schio

Schio faced formidable foes Ekaterinburg in their first game of 2021, wherein Natalie Achonwa scored 7 points and led her team with 6 total rebounds, but the Italians were left floundering throughout. After allowing sixteen unanswered points at the start they were outclassed on both ends of the floor, with Ekaterinburg’s intensity in the low post being a big factor in their dominance here.

Ekaterinburg sank the final dagger in the final quarter, taking their biggest lead of 18 points and closing out proceedings 74-58 winners. Schio's second game of the week saw the team and Achonwa fare better, the centre leading her side with 17 points and 7 total rebounds against TTT Riga.

While the Latvian club held the lead for the first quarter, Schio struck back and asserted their dominance after a 21-1 run midway through the game. The Italian team's defence and play in the paint would see them dominate proceedings and avenge the earlier loss with a far more comfortable win, 78-68.

Achonwa took off in her third outing with 28 points and 8 rebounds for Schio, who had a lot to do in their last group game after falling behind to Girona by 14 points in the first half. The Italian team slowly fought their way back from the field, taking advantage of a lapse in scoring from Girona, to put themselves in front shortly after the start of the second half.

After leading by eight in the final quarter, Schio started to see that lead shrink down the stretch until Girona's Chelsea Gray made it a single-possession game. The final result looked like it could go either way, before finally falling the way of the Itailans after a three from Giorgia Sottana.

Despite the 77-74 victory, the celebrations would not be Schio's: with the two teams here level on group and head-to-head records, Girona's small point differential means they secure second place in the group and advance to the next round.

Miranda Ayim & Katherine Plouffe, Basket Landes

A busy week for Landes began with Ayim starting and Plouffe coming off the bench for Landes against Galatasaray. The French visitors led by five points early on, but Galatasaray surged ahead by the end of the opening quarter and held that lead with Landes' attempts at catching up falling short.

After flatlining in both the third and fourth quarters, Landes fell too far behind at the game's pivotal stage to have any chance at the win. Ayim finished with 12 points and Plouffe 8, but the win was Galatasaray’s, 89 points to 63.

The very next day Landes were once again facing off against Galatasray, the second game following a very similar pattern to the first. Despite leading by six points at the end of the first quarter, Galatasaray got away from them and went on to lead by double-digits throughout the second half. Plouffe scored only four points in this second contest, Ayim just one, when this miserable outing for Landes came to an end with them 78-59 for the worse.

The hardship continued into Landes' third game of the week, where they let Sopron get away from them and again nothing could inspire them to turn it back around. Taking advantage of slack ball handling and repeatedly putting Landes' defence to shame, Sopron finished off with a massive lead. Ayim had eight points and Plouffe five as their team were blown out, 84 points to 54.

Facing familiar opponents, Bourges, in their fourth game, Landes once again did not respond after falling behind at the early stages of the contest. Ayim scored six and Plouffe had five in a game where Landes kept coming up short on offence, while their opponents saw six players reach the double-digit mark. With a second successive thirty-point loss, Landes crashed out of Group D and will play no further part in the competition.