Where are the Valkyries?, 12/17 Edition

Posted On December 18, 2024December 18, 2024

Julie Vanloo and Cecilia Zandalasini

Galatasaray had a good group stage in EuroCup Women, earning the 12 seed in the round of 32 and starting with a visit to Serbia and 21 seed Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday. They built a first half lead on their way to win 95-72 with Julie Vanloo providing 23 points and 9 assists in 29 minutes to lead the team and Cecilia Zandalasini adding 11 points in 24 minutes. The Turkish league does not have all the teams playing in every round due to starting with an odd number of teams, so they got the bye this weekend.

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/eurocup-women-24-25/games/123253-CZV-GALA

Iliana Rupert and Kayla Thornton

After finishing undefeated in the EuroLeague Women first stage, Cukurova started the second stage with a trip to Spain to face Avenida on Wednesday. They got quite a challenge, but left with a 75-73 win with 12 points and 7 rebounds in 24 minutes from Iliana Rupert and 7 points in 21 minutes from Kayla Thornton. The team rested players, not even using up all four foreign player slots in the lineup on Sunday when they visited Bodrum in Turkish league play as the hosts have had financial issues all season long and lost both foreign and local players as a result. That meant that only Rupert played in the game and she had 9 points in 11 minutes in a 101-53 win.

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-24-25/games/123727-AVE-CBK#boxscore
https://tbf.org.tr/statistics.html?%7Ew=f%7EeJwly0EKhDAMQNGrSNYTMGkbzRxDvEBTWxBc2a5mmLsPweWH97_Q4T0BmxbiZigtRSSqDVfOjEKalENSiwKvCS7H48Z982pe9YhKy1EwG8_PmiUJ1iWEuJIpS3D8cdxHHmcfZ-nw-wNIRh9V

Maria Conde

After battling through a tough first stage in EuroLeague Women, USK Prague was focused on staying in third or fourth place in this stage to advance with the top two spots to automatically advance to the final stage being out of reach for now. Their first opponent was two-time defending champions Fenerbahce, visiting the Turkish powerhouse on Thursday, and they had a tough start, but actually kept it close in the second half before losing 75-71. Maria Conde had 10 points and 8 assists in 38 minutes after being awarded player of the month honors for November. The team returned to easier competition in the Czech league on Sunday and Conde had 8 points in 8 minutes in their 117-52 win over Ostrava.

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/euroleague-women-24-25/games/123758-FENER-ZVVZ#boxscore
https://zbl.basketball/zapas/485118

Temi Fagbenle

Besiktas was one of the top performing teams in the EuroCup Women group stage, finishing undefeated and earning the 7th overall seed. That meant that they traveled to Poland to face 26 seed Gorzow for the first game of their Round of 32 series on Wednesday. The game was close until late, when they pulled away for an 80-64 win. Temi Fagbenle had 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists in 36 minutes. The team then returned to Turkish league play on Sunday with a game against their Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce, one of the best teams in the world in recent seasons. Fagbenle had 28 points and 11 rebounds to lead the team as she played all 40 minutes, but they fell short 83-77.

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/eurocup-women-24-25/games/123249-GORZ-BJK#boxscore
https://tbf.org.tr/statistics.html?%7Ew=f%7EeJwlzEEKAjEMheGrDFkbMLHNTDzG4AWSmsCAK9uV4t21uPzhe-8NHa4LsGsjTkfJWpAoEjc2RiGtypeqXgROCzwmHk-87bNylq9c4hyCtuX6n5r8ntjD3O5MTWPi18R92Dj6OFqHzxdpoCCd

Carla Leite

After finishing in last place in their group in the first stage of EuroLeague Women, Villeneuve-d’Ascq dropped down to the EuroCup Women Round of 32 and was awarded the 2 seed, starting with a trip to Romania to play 31 seed Constanta on Thursday. The team started well on their way to an 88-69 win and Carla Leite had 11 points and 6 assists in 29 minutes. On Sunday, they returned to French league action against last place Chartres, winning 75-56 with Leite providing 15 points and 6 assists in 34 minutes.

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/eurocup-women-24-25/games/123239-CSMCT-ESBVA
https://basketlfb.com/laboulangerewonderligue/match/790040-villeneuve-d-ascq-chartres

Veronica Burton

The Bendigo Spirit remained undefeated as Veronica Burton had 14 points and 6 assists in 33 minutes in their 86-80 win over the Townsville Fire on Saturday.

https://fibalivestats.dcd.shared.geniussports.com/u/wnbl/2516016/bs.html

Stephanie Talbot

The Adelaide Lightning have had a tough season so far, but they met another struggling team on Sunday and just managed to hold off the Canberra Capitals for a 68-67 win. Stephanie Talbot had 4 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists in 26 minutes.

https://fibalivestats.dcd.shared.geniussports.com/u/wnbl/2516018/bs.html

Monique Billings

Guangdong continued play on Friday when they visited Fujian, winning 94-88 as Monique Billings had 17 points and 8 rebounds in 23 minutes. That set up a very tough game on Tuesday when they visited the defending league and Asian champions Sichuan, which had been rolling through the league without bringing in their foreign players yet. They ended up providing quite a challenge in the first half, but ended up losing 94-81 with Billings providing 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Upcoming Games

These and other games can be viewed live or as replays. Times listed are Pacific Standard.

Julie Vanloo and Cecilia Zandalasini, Wednesday 9:00am:

Maria Conde, Wednesday 10:00am:

Veronica Burton, Wednesday 11:30pm:

Temi Fagbenle, Thursday 9:00am:

Stephanie Talbot, Friday 12:30am:

Stephanie Talbot, Saturday 5:30pm:

Veronica Burton, Saturday 8:00pm: