EuroLeague Women Review: Week 1

MUNICH (EuroLeague Women 2017) – Our women’s basketball specialist Paul Nilsen reflects on a thrilling opening week of EuroLeague Women 2017 action.

AVENIDA LIVE UP TO THE HYPE

It’s only one game [and against a UMMC side missing several big-hitters including Diana Taurasi] but what a way to start the season for Perfumerias Avenida. The ‘Blue Tide’ of fans came in big numbers and made the usual great noise inside Pabellon Wurzburg and the Avenida players responded. They lived up to their pre-season billing of being one of the best teams to watch this season.

Led by Jelena Milovanovic, the Avenida players were one step quicker all over the floor, very energetic and relentlessly aggressive. UMMC play-caller Olaf Lange freely admitted his team were second best and didn't cope. Credit to Miguel Angel Ortega for having Avenida prepared and so purposeful against the reigning EuroLeague Women champions. The true test for Avenida will of course be in that return game in Ekaterinburg.

I also noted the contrasting fortunes for Silvia Dominguez who enjoyed beating her former team and for her Spanish national team colleague Alba Torrens, who didn't enjoy being back on her old floor that much.

Throughout the summer, I had spoken about how Avenida could provide the hottest ticket in town when it comes to entertainment and perhaps unpredictability. After all, they went into that game against UMMC having barely broke 50 points in a Liga Femenina loss at Gernika.

So, I think we can safely say that it’s never going to be boring for Avenida followers and us neutrals! My other thought as I watched the players leave the floor in Salamanca, was what a great advert this game was for the women’s game and the competition in general.

SPECIAL EFFORT FROM WONDERFUL WISLA FANS

When it comes to praising fans of EuroLeague Women clubs, it’s a case of hats off to Wisla Can-Pack who had more than 11,000 supporters inside the Krakow Arena for the visit of Dynamo Kursk. It isn't the first time they have garnered such stunning support at the venue and the club deserves big credit for promoting the game in this way.

With so many spectators, it was important that Wisla put in a good performance against one of the tournament’s front-runners and they did just that. They briefly led during the third quarter and just like last year, they showed a lot of fighting spirit and resolve - despite many new players on the roster. Perhaps it further underlines the ethos of head coach, Jose Hernandez, whose teams generally always seem to punch hard and above their weight.

THE WEEKLY GONGS

Team Performance of the Week: While the popular vote will go to the brilliant opening statement made by Avenida against UMMC, I am going to give this one to Uniqa Sopron. After all, UMMC were without some marquee stars and Avenida were at home. However Sopron were on the road and looked like they were beaten when down by 12 points with less than five minutes remaining in Polkowice. They had also only won once in the whole of last season. Yet they showed amazing heart and resolve to take a huge double-overtime comeback win.

Individual Performance of the Week: I would rarely give the accolade to a player from a team that lost and it's tough on Alexandria Quigley, Sara Krnjic and Yvonne Turner for example, but Croatian national team center Marija Rezan couldn't have done any more for CCC Polkowice in that Sopron heart-breaker. She had a jaw-dropping performance efficiency rating of 48 after putting up a spectacular double-double of 27 points and 23 rebounds. She played 41 minutes in the game and demonstrated wonderful concentration to shoot 65 percent.

Unsung Hero: With Sandrine Gruda now belatedly linking up with Fenerbahce, the minutes of Esra Ural will inevitably drop. But, I thought Ural was excellent in the dramatic overtime win against Schio and underpinned the headline contribution of the 35-point Quigley with her fine 15 points and nine rebounds. She also shot a superb 70 percent.

Number crunching: Who would have thought it? Heavyweight duo and tournament favourites UMMC and Fenerbahce committed the most turnovers during week 1. They both coughed the ball up 20 times!

FOOTNOTES

Tango Bourges have never been consistent on the road in this competition during recent years and so it was a valuable win at ESBVA-LM and great for new captain Jo Leedham as she assists head coach Valerie Garnier in overseeing something of an evolution. It was also a great debut for Rio Olympian Clarissa Dos Santos, as the Brazilian forward finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

On the topic of debuts, there was a nice opening salvo from Amanda Zahui of Nadezhda, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds in Antakya.

Finally, welcome to EuroLeague Women to Mersin and Hatay who were both hopeful of taking opening wins, but it just didn’t happen and so history has been put on hold!

You can follow Paul @basketmedia365

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