Canadians in Europe: 1st - 4th December
The start of a new EuroLeague Women season saw plenty of basketball action across the continent this week, much of it featuring top Canadian players making an impact on proceedings.
Euroleague
Canadians Dyshawn Pierre and Kevin Pangos both started for their respective teams, Fenerbahce and Zenit St Petersburg, when they met up at the Sibur Arena this week. There was a big contrast in performances though - Pierre managing just two points in the contest while Pangos led Zenit with 16 points and four assists. Jan Vesely powered Fenerbahce into an early lead which, despite Zenit playing the superior defence and winning the third quarter 21-8, could not overcome. Fenerbahce ended a four-game losing streak with the 73-65 win over Zenit St Petersburg.
EuroCup In the only EuroCup fixture this week, Thomas Scrubb scored 10 points in 21 minutes for JL Bourg-en-Bresse, one of five players for the French club to finish in double digits against Reyer Venezia. Their opponents led by 11 at the end of the first quarter, but Bourg-en-Bresse pulled with their three-point shooting and shutdown defence, overturning their fortunes to prevail with the big win, 87 points to 59.
EuroLeague Women
Natalie Achonwa started and with 10 points was second in scoring in her first EuroLeague game with Schio, the final result making it a debut to forget. Early close-range intensity from Ekatrinburg saw the two-time defending champions take a double digit lead shortly after start of Q2. Going on to lead by as much as 22 points in the contest, Ekatrinburg came away with the comfortable win for them, 83-61.
Achonwa totalled 8 points in Schio's second game of the week, which saw a thrilling finish between them and TTT Riga. Having held a comfortable lead over the Latvian side for most of the way, two separate runs of six and five points from Riga made it a single-possession game with four minutes to go. Achonwa helped to facilitate a successful conclusion to the game, Schio picked up their first win 76-72 over Riga.
She was back in action for Schio the next day, this time totalling 15 points against Girona. There was little to separate these two teams from the outset, though Schio went ten clear in the third quarter, Girona quickly made it a one-point game. With the scores tied ahead of the final minute, Girona's Sonja Vasic made the game-winning plays to move ahead of Schio in Group C, the final score 85-81 in their favour.
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe grabbed 11 total rebounds and scored 8 points for Lyon ASVEL while starter Michelle Plouffe scored 11 for the French team in their blow-out opening win against Gdynia. With an 18-point unbeaten run midway through and reaching a game-high advantage of 32 points, Lyon completely overpowered their opening opponents en route to a 89-57 victory.
Their next game against USK Praha was a far tighter affair. With four points each, Raincock-Ekunwe and Plouffe ended up playing second fiddle to their team mate Marine Johannes, who had an extraordinary 38 points in the contest. This saw the French team lead by double digits for the second quarter, before Teja Oblak and Marija Rezan fought back for Praha in the third, where they took the lead.
With 2:30 to go Praha led Lyon by eight, which saw Johannes make the last of her 38 points, but would ultimately be one point short to save the game for her team. The final result came down to the very last second, but it was the Czech outfit that was victorious by 80 points to 79.
ASVEL's last game of the week was their most impressive - leading Fenerbahce from beginning to end, in which Plouffe contributed 11 points off the bench and Raincock-Ekunwe had nine of her own. With a game-high 28 points to her name, Kayla McBride tried in vain to turn the game back in Fenerbahce's favour, the Turkish team were resigned to the loss, 84-70.
Miranda Ayim almost completed a double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds in Landes' first ELW game. Her team mate and compatriot Katherine Plouffe contributing nine points off the bench, also for the French side, who looked secured of victory over Bourges, whom they led by 13 in the third quarter - only for Alexia Chartereau and Magali Mendy to erase the deficit and put Bourges in the lead soon after.
Ayim restored Landes' lead with a minute left, Kristen Mann then tied the scores on the final shot clock and when Plouffe missed the last shot of regulation, the game went to overtime. With Bourges faltering on offence in the deciding time and Landes' still solid on defence, they prevailed in the French derby by a final score 69-66 over Bourges.
Landes had one last game this week against Hungarian side, Sopron, who did not look back after taking an early lead. Even with Ayim totalling a double-double - 11 points & 10 rebounds, one of two from Landes in this one along with Valeriane Vukosavljevic - Sopron's duo of Gabby Williams and Jelena Brooks kept them firmly in the lead. Even when Landes reduced the gap to one point in the third quarter, Sopron held their nerve and prevailed with the win, 70-59.
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