Hopefully you’ve already seen that Lauren Jackson re-signed with the Storm today and read the feature story based on our exclusive interview with LJ. You can use this thread to share your reaction on this happy day.
Reaction: LJ Re-Signs
Posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 10:44 am by Kevin PeltonEurope Wins Euroleague All-Star Game
Posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 3:49 pm by Kevin Pelton
The Euroleague gathered Tuesday in Gdynia, Poland to celebrate its brightest talents in the 2010 Euroleague All-Star Game, once again matching a team of Europe’s top players against the best from the Rest of the World. The Storm was represented by Janell Burse, the starting center for the Rest of the World. Burse played just 11 minutes, grabbing two rebounds and missing her only shot attempt, as Pokey Chatman chose to play small in the middle.
Rebekkah Brunson scored a team-high 15 points and Candice Dupree had 11 points and nine boards, but Europe finished the game on a 7-2 run to win 93-89. Marta Fernandez’s bucket put the Europeans ahead for good, and MVP Agnieszka Bibrzycka capped her 20-point outing by putting the game away with a late three-pointer. That’s it for the Euroleague until next month’s Final Four.
DRAFT SET FOR APRIL 8
The WNBA announced this morning that the 2010 WNBA Draft will be held Thursday, April 8 in Secaucus, NJ at the NBA Entertainment studios. That’s now less than a month away. The Storm will pick 10th overall in the first round, televised on ESPN2 and streamed on ESPN360.com, and holds picks 22 and 34 in the second and third rounds, which will be on ESPNU as well as NBA TV. We’ll kick off our unparalleled draft coverage in earnest later this month.
Capitals, Jackson Reign in WNBL
Posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 1:40 pm by Kevin PeltonFor the sixth time in her remarkable career, Lauren Jackson has helped her team to a WNBL championship. Saturday’s 75-70 Canberra TransAct Capitals win over the Bulleen Boomers, however, was very much a team effort. Though Jackson won Grand Final MVP honors, teammates Natalie Hurst and Marianna Tolo were at least equally valuable as the Capitals rallied on the road from an eight-point deficit and a 68-62 disadvantage early in the fourth quarter.
A Carly Wilson three-pointer gave Canberra its first lead of the fourth quarter, and moments later Abby Bishop answered Liz Cambage’s score with another three that gave the Capitals the lead for good. They would hold Bulleen scoreless over the final 2:47, getting a free throw from Bishop at the 1:55 mark to extend the lead to three. A pair of Jackson free throws with four seconds left sealed the game and provided the final margin.
Jackson finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, shooting 7-of-23 from the field. Hurst scored a team-high 21 points and Tolo shut down Cambage down the stretch, blocking six shots. Bishop also had a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards. The Boomers’ Jenna O’Hea was the game’s high scorer with 26 points, knocking down four triples, grabbing seven rebounds and handing out five assists. Cambage had 16 points and 11 rebounds but was limited to 6-of-17 shooting.
“Since the last Bulleen game everyone has played an equal part in winning,” Jackson told the Sydney Morning Herald, ”and tonight, everybody did. They could play anywhere in the world.”
Five of Jackson’s six WNBL championships have been won for Canberra, and the Capitals won their seventh as a franchise, tops among all teams. Head Coach Carrie Graf also won her seventh WNBL championship.
Cash Named to National Team
Posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 4:20 pm by Kevin Pelton
David Dow/NBAE/Getty Images
Swin Cash has had a long relationship with USA Basketball, including representing the U.S. in the 2004 Olympics and helping the team win gold in Athens. She was also a part of the Senior National Team that played in last fall’s Ekaterinburg International Tournament. Today, USA Basketball made Cash’s role with the National Team official, as she was one of 12 players selected for the Women’s National Team for the 2010-12 time period. Cash joins teammate Sue Bird and seven other members of the 2008 Olympic team who were originally selected last August.
“It’s an honor and a blessing to be named to the national team again,” Cash told USABasketball.com. “I understand there’s a lot of time between now and September, but this is a step in the right direction.”
From this pool of 20 players – and possibly more added at a later date – USA Basketball will choose its 12-player rosters for this fall’s FIBA World Championship for Women as well as future competitions leading up to the 2012 London Olympics. Cash’s international experience will be an asset as those decisions are being made.
“I bring experience and versatility,” she said. “Winning a gold medal, competing on the international stage and spending four years under Coach (Geno) Auriemma was invaluable experience that will help me throughout this whole process. I can play the three or the four, defend multiple positions, and have a sound understanding of Coach Auriemma’s system. So for me there won’t be much of a learning curve in that regard. I’m just excited to get started.”
Speaking of Auriemma, there’s a heavy UConn presence on the National Team roster. Including Bird and Cash, seven of the 20 players are Husky alumnae.
Burse Joins Teammates in Final Four
Posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 3:34 pm by Kevin PeltonThe Storm got its first represenative in the Euroleague Final Four, when Sue Bird and Spartak Moscow Region swept their quarterfinal series. A second came Wednesday morning when the Storm signed Ros Casares Valencia forward Jana Vesela. Now, the Storm has a third player in the Euroleague’s showcase event after Janell Burse helped Wisla Can-Pack outlast Frisco Sika Brno 78-73 in the deciding Game 3 of their matchup.
The teams were tied at 65 midway through the fourth quarter, but Wisla controlled the stretch run, reeling off eight unanswered points and a deciding bucket from Marta Fernandez with 12 seconds left in the game. Burse was a major factor, scoring a game-high 20 points on 10-of-17 shooting and adding eight rebounds. Fernandez had 17, Iziane Castro Marques 14 and Ewelina Kobryn a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards. Jelena Skerovic led Brno by scoring 18 points.
The win continues a stunning Euroleague run for Wisla, which only got a chance to play at Europe’s highest level because CSKA Moscow folded before the start of the season. Now, Wisla will join Russian powers Spartak and UMMC Ekaterinburg and Ros Casares in the Final Four, which will take place on April 9 and April 11. The host city has yet to be determined among the finalists.
Canberra Reaches WNBL Grand Final
Posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 4:52 pm by Kevin PeltonLauren Jackson and the Canberra TransAct Capitals are headed for the WNBL’s Grand Final after knocking off the rival Sydney Uni Acuvue Flames 61-56 in Saturday’s Preliminary Final. After Sydney led early, Jackson scored 10 of her 14 points in the second quarter to put visiting Canberra ahead at halftime. The Capitals nursed the advantage throughout the second half and Jackson’s putback with 36 seconds left kept the Flames from having the ball with a chance to tie.
Even on a night where she was quiet on offense, shooting 6-of-20 from the field, Jackson was still a force in the paint. She grabbed 18 boards, eight of them on the offensive end, and blocked four shots. Natalie Hurst led Canberra with 18 points. Sydney’s Deanna Smith led all scorers by putting up 20 points, but no other Flames reached double-figures. The team missed Suzy Batkovic-Brown, who was unable to play due to a left knee injury.
The Capitals advance to take on the Bulleen Bombers in the Grand Finals next Saturday. Bulleen enters the game 22-1 on the season, having crushed Sydney at home in last week’s semifinal. The Bombers are also the only team to defeat Canberra since Jackson began playing for the Caps, winning 88-78 at home on Feb. 13. So Canberra will need to pull an upset for Jackson to add a sixth WNBL championship to her trophy case.
Sue Bird is also no stranger to championships, and Spartak Moscow Region’s bid for a fourth consecutive Euroleague title took another step forward last Friday when Spartak worked overtime to defeat Fenerbahce 87-85 in Game 2, sweep their quarterfinal series 2-0 and reach the Euroleague Final Four. The Turkish squad rallied from a 15-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to tie the score with 12 seconds left on a Nicole Powell jumper. Powell was unable to recapture the magic in the extra session, missing twice after Diana Taurasi put Spartak ahead for good with 24 seconds to play.
Taurasi scored 38 points on 13-of-30 shooting, while Sylvia Fowles (the Euroleague Player of the Week) had 26 points (shooting 12-of-15 from the field) and 19 boards for Spartak. Bird was the third player in double-figures for the Russian side, finishing with 10 points and three assists. Powell led Fenerbahce with 23 points.
“This was a great game between two very good teams,” said Spartak Coach Pokey Chatman. “If I was a fan I would probably enjoy it very much.”
To join Spartak in the Final Four, Wisla Can-Pack will need to survive a Game 3 at home after losing 87-72 to Frisco Sika Brno on the road in Game 2. Brno opened up a close game by outscoring Wisla 23-14 in the third quarter. After outplaying counterpart Taj McWilliams in Game 1, Janell Burse was limited to three points and one rebound in the loss, shooting 1-of-7 from the field. Eva Viteckova had 25 points and McWilliams 20 for Brno. The series returns to Poland for Game 3, which will be played on Wednesday.
The two other quarterfinal series saw UMMC Ekaterinburg and Ros Casares Valencia reach the Final Four with sweeps. Ros Casares eliminated Le’coe Willingham and Halcon Avenida, which was bidding for a second straight Final Four trip, with a 63-57 Game 2 victory. Willingham had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Sancho Lyttle also recorded a double-double (17 points, 10 boards), but Avenida shot just 4-of-17 from beyond the arc.
The last of the Storm playoff action took place in Israel, where Camille Little and Maccabi Ramat Hen pulled off an upset of Elizur Maccabi Natanya in the teams’ best-of-five quarterfinal series. First, Ramat Hen forced the deciding game by defeating Natanya 86-71 at home in Game 4. Little (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Tiffany Jackson (21 points, 11 rebounds) both had double-doubles up front. Ramat Hen went on the road for yesterday’s Game 5 and came up with a 78-74 win. Little led all scorers with 23 points and grabbed nine boards. Ramat Hen joins Ashley Walker and Maccabi Ashdod in the quarterfinals.
Brondello Becomes Head Coach
Posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 2:28 pm by Kevin Pelton
Former Storm guard Sandy Brondello was promoted to head coach of the San Antonio Silver Stars Thursday when veteran Dan Hughes stepped aside to focus on his duties as the team’s general manager. Brondello, who has spent the last five seasons as an assistant to Hughes, becomes the third former WNBA player to also serve as both an assistant and a head coach in the league, joining L.A.’s Jennifer Gillom and Storm Director of Scouting and Player Development Jenny Boucek.
The time is right for Brondello to become a head coach, Hughes indicated.
“Sandy will be my fourth assistant coach to become a head coach in the WNBA,” he said in the release. “Her evolution from player to coach over the past five years has been unlike any other I have seen. She is an effective teacher of the game, relates to the professional player and is ready to lead a team of her own. Along with Olaf Lange as associate head coach, the Silver Stars family is in great hands. I will do all I can as general manager to compliment this wonderful staff.”
Brondello finished her five-year WNBA career as the Storm’s starting shooting guard during the 2003 season. After retiring, she represented Australia in the 2004 Athens Olympics before moving to the sidelines. Besides Brondello’s time playing in Seattle, there’s another tie between the two coaching staffs – Storm Head Coach Brian Agler was part of Hughes’ staff alongside Brondello and Lange from 2005 through 2007 before coming to Seattle.
http://www.wnba.com/silverstars/news/100225_hughes_brondello.html
Bird Feature, Jackson on Future
Posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 3:24 pm by Kevin PeltonLong-time women’s basketball writer Lois Elfman profiles Sue Bird for the Syosset Patch, a Web site covering Bird’s hometown. The focus is on Bird’s year-round basketball schedule, and the break she took from it to spend time at home in New York this winter.
“I can go to an island and sit on the beach almost anytime,” said Bird before heading back to Moscow for her sixth pro season in Russia. “The one thing that I feel like I miss out on in life is really being around people—my friends, my family.”
So she spent October through December just being around home—dividing her time mostly between her mother’s Syosset home and New York City, where her older sister lives.
“Something as small as my sister and the New York City Marathon, which she ran for the first time,” Bird said. “I got to see it. She got engaged, as did my best friend. I was able to celebrate with them. It’s the little things you miss when you’re away so much. Other than letting my body rest, that’s really what I wanted to do. I just wanted to be around.”
Down in Australia, as the WNBL campaign winds down, the media is wondering whether Lauren Jackson will be back for another season Down Under.
“After this season I will be heading back to America to live in Seattle and play for the Storm in the WNBA,” Jackson told The Daily Telegraph.
“But if I can get another contract – a big contract – here in Australia I’d be home in a heartbeat. If Canberra can come up with the money I’d stay.”
Carrie Graf, the former Storm assistant coach who is the head coach of the Canberra TransAct Capitals, isn’t counting on having Jackson next year. “The starting offers in Europe will be well over double that [what Jackson is being paid this season],” she said, “and I just don’t think that money is around in Canberra.”
The Daily Telegraph also reports that when the Capitals take on the Sydney Uni Acuvue Flames this weekend, it will be Jackson’s first game in Sydney since January 2004.
Spartak, Wisla Start Euroleague Quarters with Wins
Posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 5:17 pm by Kevin PeltonBest-of-three Euroleague Quarterfinal series kicked off with Tuesday’s Game 1s, and both Spartak Moscow Region and Wisla Can-Pack recorded home victories.
Spartak led Turkish power Fenerbahce by 21 with four minutes to play before Fenerbahce finished the game on a 12-2 run to make the final a respectable-looking 90-79 score. Spartak controlled the game from the start, leading by 17 after one quarter. Diana Taurasi was terrific for Spartak, scoring 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Sylvia Fowles added 18 points and 12 boards and Sue Bird was the third Spartak player to reach double-figures, knocking down a pair of three-pointers and scoring 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting with four assists. For Fenerbahce, Nicole Powell scored 18 of her 25 points beyond the arc (making six threes in nine tries) and Nevriye Yilmaz added 22 points.
Wisla had a much tougher time against Frisco Sika Brno and trailed by 10 late in the third quarter before erasing the deficit with a 14-2 run in the fourth quarter. Wisla held on to its slim lead by holding Brno scoreless in the game’s final 2:26, with Janell Burse’s bucket at the 16-second mark the only points in that period, leaving Wisla 78-74 winners. Along with Iziane Castro Marques and Ewelina Kobryn, Burse was one of three Wisla players to score 18 points. She filled out her box score with 12 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots in a phenomenal all-around performance. Burse outplayed counterpart Taj McWilliams, who had eight points and 10 boards.
For Le’coe Willingham and Halcon Avenida, Game 1 of their Spanish showdown with Ros Casares Valencia was not as successful. Riding 13 points from Belinda Snell in the first quarter, Ros Casares got off to a fast start and never looked back in a 74-50 win over Avenida. Willingham had a strong outing, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting and eight rebounds. As a team, Avenida shot just 34.5 percent from the field in the loss. Snell finished with 21 points.
The action will shift locations as the lower-seeded teams host Game 2s on Friday.
Playoff action also continued Monday in Israel, where Ashley Walker and Maccabi Ashdod finished off a three-game sweep of Raanana Hertzeliya with a 95-69 Game 3 victory. Walker led the way with 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 10 rebounds and six of the team’s 24 assists. Ashdod is still awaiting a semifinal opponent, since all three other series are 2-1 right now. That includes Camille Little and Maccabi Ramat Han trailing Elizur Maccabi Natanya after falling on the road 83-71 on Monday. Little had 26 points and nine boards in a losing effort. Ramat Hen will try to stay alive at home on Thursday in Game 4.
A heartbreaker in China, where Guangdong Asia Aluminum lost Game 1 of its series with the Shenyang Army 83-82 earlier today. Swin Cash had a chance to win the game, but missed at the buzzer. Cash was a big reason why Guangdong was in position to win, scoring 20 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and handing out five assists. Game 2 of the series will be Friday.
Chelsea Newton has a new (old) teammate with Liomatic Umbertide – Ticha Penicheiro, her backcourt-mate for the better part of the last five years in Sacramento, including during the Monarchs run to the 2005 WNBA championship. Penicheiro’s arrival wasn’t enough to snap an Umbertide losing streak (now at four games) in her debut, a 73-68 loss to Erg Power & Gas Priolo. Penicheiro had five points and five assists, while Newton scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out three assists.
Sydney, Canberra to Meet for Spot in Grand Final
Posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 3:26 pm by Kevin PeltonStorm teammates Suzy Batkovic-Brown and Lauren Jackson will see their teams square off with a trip to the WNBL’s Grand Final on the line in Saturday’s Preliminary Final in Sydney. However, barring an unlikely return to the lineup, Batkovic-Brown will be sidelined by a knee injury for the Flames’ matchup against Jackson’s Canberra TransAct Capitals.
Without Batkovic-Brown, Sydney was no match for the top-ranked Bulleen Boomers in a Major Semifinal that was more lopsided even than the 72-55 final score indicates. Bulleen led by as many as 31 points. Sydney totaled just 34 points in the first three quarters, shot 27 percent from the game and had no one outside of Natalie Porter and Mikaela Dombkins score more than six points. Four Boomers scored double-figures.
Canberra had a much easier time of things on Sunday despite playing without one of its starters – guard Jessica Bibby, whose WNBA rights are held by the Storm, missed the game and is out indefinitely after her brother passed away last week. With their absent teammate top of mind, the Capitals crushed the Townsville Fire 70-39 to advance. Abby Bishop led Canberra with 20 points and 16 rebounds, while Jackson posted 16 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
The Flames will have home-court advantage, but the Capitals have the momentum going into their showdown. Canberra defeated Sydney in overtime at home last month.
If the Flames needed any extra motivation, they may have gotten it from Bulleen coach Tom Maher (Jackson’s former coach with Canberra and the Opals National Team), who questioned Sydney’s ability to create a rematch in the Grand Final after the Boomers’ easy win.
“Seeing that, I can’t see Sydney getting through,” Maher told The Herald Sun. “But if they did get through, they’d have to wrestle with the demons. (The real margin) was 30, so they’ll have to wrestle with those things.
One other note: Former UW guard Nicole Romeo is one of Jackson’s teammates in Canberra and talked to Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times, who was catching up with the Huskies’ 2007 recruiting class that left the school. Romeo talked about the experience of playing with Jackson.
Is talk of a “Lauren Jackson” mania true?
The Jackson mania! Haha yes, this is very true. She probably wouldn’t like me saying this statement is true as she is quite shy, but since she has joined the league the crowd numbers around the country have increased dramatically. Lauren is an amazing ambassador for not only Australian basketball, but for women’s basketball world-wide and us Aussies couldn’t be happier having her home. After games she finds herself sitting for hours signing autographs and photos, always with a smile on her face. So, she is definitely someone to aspire to be and a great role model for the kids.
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