In the United States, the Final Four means the NCAA. In Europe, it means the Euroleague, and the Final Four of the best club teams on the continent have finally been settled. Unfortunately, a little American thuggery cast a shadow on the competition.
Elaine Powell of BK Lotos, although the best scorer in the second quarterfinal game, was the focus of many analysts' attention as she recently made the headlines for a very disappointing outburst during a recent Polish Cup game -- she punched Yelena Skerovic of visiting team Wisla Krakow in the face. Simply unacceptable. Skerovic is out for the rest of the season, has a broken facial bone and might have problems with one eye. Observers expected some sanctions from FIBA Europe and the Polish federation and Polish officials decided to disqualify Elaine Powell for the rest of the season and to fix a 10,000 zloty fine (+/- $3,250). In the meantime, Powell keeps on playing in the Euroleague ...
The other U.S. player of Lotos Gdynia, Deanna Nolan, was also arrested for a DUI in Poland several weeks ago. A real shock in Poland from the Detroit girls.
On the court, a last second three-pointer from clutch player Zuzanna Zirkova lifted Gambrinus Brno to victory in the opener against BK Lotos , but then Lotos Gdynia downed Gambrinus Brno 87-72 on March 18 to tie the series at 1-1. In the decisive third game, star center of Gambrinus Brno Taj McWilliams-Franklin (20 points) led her team to qualify for the Final Four by a 62-52 margin.
In late February, the Slovaks of Delta ICP Kosice were eliminated following a second-leg home loss to visiting favorite VBM-SGAU Samara, 111-62. The Russian team had already won the first leg in the round of 16 by a very large margin (96-40) a few days earlier. (Euroleague playoffs are decided by a home-and-home, two-game series.)
Ros Casares Valencia of Spain dethroned US Valenciennes, last year's champion, with a last quarter push Feb. 25, and claimed a surprise second victory, 73-70. The Spanish team, led by new L.A. Spark Chamique Holdsclaw and Aussie center Suzy Batkovic, knocked title-holders out of this year's competition. Holdsclaw, the 27-year-old American forward, has played a starring role with the Valencia club, which is making excellent progress in the FIBA Euroleague and in the Spanish Liga Femenina. In Valenciennes' first Euroleague playoff home loss since 1997, Ros Casares came back from a 13-point deficit early in the second half to put an end to the 2004 champions' title hopes. Ros Casares had won the first leg by six, 65-59.
The same evening in Namur, Belgium, Lietuvos Telekomas Vilnius made their intentions clear from the very start as they opened the scoring with a 6-0 run in the first minutes, taking a lead which was then never to be relinquished for the remainder of the game (final score 71-67). Lietuvos Telekomas, lead by American top-scorer Katie Douglas, had already won the first leg in Lithuania a few days before, 80-70.
Another strong team, Gambrinus Brno, easily qualified for the quarterfinals -- beating Lavezzini Parma twice: 89-54 at home and 101-57 in Italy. The Italian team was without Federica Ciampoli and Dubravka Dacic, while guards Gordana Grubin and Ana Kostaki's playing time was limited due to nagging injuries. Gambrinus brushed aside the understrength Italian squad to advance to the quarters for the eighth time in the last nine seasons. In fact, Lavezzini Parma was in the news for another reason in March: U.S. player Donnette Snow, who averaged 15.5 points and 13.6 rebounds a game in the FIBA Euroleague for her Italian team this season, recently dunked the basketball in Lavezzini's 75-65 win over CaraChieti, reminding most Italian basketball fans that dunking the basketball is not just the domain of men. Snow scored 22 points against CaraChieti, but the biggest two came a couple of minutes before halftime when she threw one down on a fastbreak.
She is not the only woman to dunk in Europe this season, however. Russian international Maria Stepanova dunked for VBM-SGAU in a 118-40 mauling of Vologda-Chevakata Vologda in a club game last November. It was the first time that this had ever happened in a Russian women's game.
Wisla Can-Pack Krakow of Poland also signed out of the Euroleague in the quarters, despite another brilliant performance against Russian giants Dynamo Moscow in the second game of the series. The narrow loss in Moscow earlier in the week had boosted the Polish confidence but it was not enough to cause an upset and force a third matchup. Both games ended up with a close defeat for the Poles: 65-58 in Moscow and 71-67 in Krakow.
The other Polish team, Lotos Gdynia, won the first and second legs against the Magyar of Euroleasing Sopron: 90-67 at home and 69-56 in Hungary. 2003 European MVP Agnieszka Bibrzycka of Lotos Gdynia scored 29 points in the second leg.
In the 100% French round of 16 series, Tarbes GB lost by more than 30 points against national rivals Bourges Basket: 79-47 at home. Tarbes GB had had a very close defeat in the first leg at home, 69-67 in Bourges.
In the last remaining matchup, MiZo Pecsi VSK of Hungary took the necessary third win against Ukrainian rivals Kozachka-Zalk Zaporozhye on March 3, and with it moves into the quarterfinals for the fifth season in a row. The home side started very well and quickly had a 10-4 lead mainly thanks to solid play from Timea Beres. However, with a good team effort, Kozachka-Zalk pegged their way back and tied the game by the first break 15-15. MiZo Pecsi was better organized afterwards and played very well offensively: Beres, helped by Euroleague assists leader Dalma Ivanyi, scored 15 points that night. The Magyar team won the last game by a score of 73-59. The first leg had finished with MiZo Pecsi's win 81-55 and the second leg, 80-72 for the Ukraininans, proving that Kozachka-Zalk deserved a spot in the Euroleague this season indeed.
The Euroleague quarterfinals were then fixed as follows: VBM-SGAU Samara vs. Ros Casares Valencia, MiZo Pecsi vs. Bourges Basket, Gambrinus Brno vs. BK Lotos Gdynia and Lietuvos Telekomas Vilnius vs. Dynamo Moscow.
VBM-SGAU Samara's Dream Team -- with Ann Wauters, Sheryl Swoopes, Maria Stepanova, Edwige Lawson and Ilona Korstine -- continued their imperious Euroleague season with a 12-point victory in the first game of their quarterfinal playoff series against Ros Casares Valencia. The Russian side has been particularly strong in Samara, and other than a 66-60 overtime win against Lotos Gdynia, has won home games by an average margin of 43 points. In the second game three days later, a powerful performance from the Russian side was again too much for Ros Casares as VBM-SGAU powered its way to a 75-45 victory and a first Final Four appearance.
Dynamo Moscow, led by WNBA star Sue Bird, had one leg in this year's Euroleague Final Four after their tight win over Lietuvos Telekomas in Vilnius on March 15. Lietuvos Telekomas, benefiting from experienced forward Jurgita Streimikyte, was undefeated at home going into the contest, but Dynamo proved too strong for the Lithuanians, edging the hosts, 77-73. On March 18, Lietuvos Telekomas bounced back from the loss in the first game. Behind an amazing performance by Katie Douglas, who flirted with a quadruple-double as she had 23 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and seven steals, the Lithuanian champions inflicted a first home loss on Dynamo Moscow in 2004-2005. The last matchup proved that the Lithuanians remain a top team on the European scene as they beat Dynamo by a seven-point margin, mainly thanks to an amazing fourth quarter and with the impulse of a very efficient Douglas in offense (15 points) and a strong Ieva Kublina on teh boards (nine rebounds. The final score was 67-60.
In another quarterfinal, the young and inexperienced French team of Bourges Basket was very much the underdog as they travelled to Hungary and took on MiZo Pecsi VSK in the first leg of their best-of-three series on March 15. Coach Pierre Vincent's team lost the first game in Pecs 70-61, but Bourges Basket showed that it would be extremely tough for the Magyar champs to repeat the victory on the French soil three days later. Both clubs have established a serious Euroleague rivalry. At the quarterfinal stage of the 2003-2004 competition, the two teams already met in two desperately close games. Pecs finally won the series 2-0, but only after an overtime win in the second game. This time, after the nice win for Bourges Basket in the second game on March 18 (61-48 in Bourges), the two sides were going to battle again for a spot in the 2005 Final Four. It ended well for the Hungarians, as it will be their third Final Four after winning the final game by 16 points in front of a very enthusiastic home crowd (70-54).
Thus, favourite VBM-SGAU Samara, surprising Lietuvos Telekomas, improving Gambrinus Brno and up-and-coming MiZo Pecsi will compete in the 2005 Euroleague Final Four.
The finals for the FIBA Europe Cup will be hosted by Italian club Phard Napoli Basket on April 2 and 3 in Naples. The pairings for the tournament, determined by the draw, will be as follows: ZKK Croatia Zagreb (Croatia) vs Fenerbahce Istanbul (Turkey), and Phard Napoli Basket (Italy) vs Ramat Hasharon (Israel).
Petra Ujhelyi won a clear first-match advantage over her father Gabor when Anda Ramat-Hasharon thrashed Szeviep Szeged of Hungary 86-62 in the FIBA Europe Cup pan-European playoffs. The Hungarian champions could not turn the tables in the return match in Szeged early in March. The Israeli team, presenting an interesting roster with Polish forward Joanna Cuprys, Croatian power forward Marianna Raguz, American center Chasity Melvin and guard Candace Futrell, won away, 73-70.
Phard Napoli, with international French center Nicole Antibe and U.S. forward Vicki Bullett, got rid of the Croatian team of Jolly Sibenik. Fenerbahce, with WNBA star Marie Ferdinand, qualified against Nadezhda of Russia. ZKK Croatia Zagreb, led by impressive Bosnian center Razija Brcaninovic (average of 22.4 points per game and 9.4 rebounds per game in this season's FIBA Europe Cup), defeated Faenza Faience of Italy twice to qualify for the FIBA Cup Final Four.
On March 12 and 13, the FIBA Europe Board met in Budapest and the promotion and development of women's basketball was also a key topic on the agenda. Czech Basketball Federation representative Jiri Zednicek presented a study on the popularity of women's basketball in certain areas of Europe and Women's Commission President Alexander Boshkov reported on plans to stage a Year of Women's Basketball in 2006. The project would see a sustained program of promotional activities for women's basketball over the course of the year, culminating in the 2007 Eurobasket Women in Italy.
3/27/05