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.

The 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.

The Euroleague announced today starting lineups for the March 9 All-Star Game in Gdynia, Poland as voted by fans and Storm center Janell Burse will start in the post for the Rest of the World squad. Along with Burse, this team will start Candice Dupree, Diana Taurasi, Penny Taylor and Sophia Young. Agnieszka Bibrzycka, Marta Fernandez, Sandrine Gruda, Becky Hammon and Nevriye Yilmaz will start for the European team. Burse, who leads the Euroleague in rebounding and double-doubles, was an easy selection. Euroleague play resumes Wednesday with the first game of best-of-three eighth-final series.

Burse also helped her TS Wisla Can-Pack team advance to the semifinals of the Polish Cup with an 83-54 win over LKS Siemens Lodz on Wednesday, scoring six points. Lotos Gydnia will also be in the semis, beating Pruszkow 67-52 behind 14 points and eight rebounds from Tanisha Wright. The two teams also scored easy PLKK victories over the weekend, Wisla handling Leszno 86-65 with Burse contributing 11 points in 16 minutes and Wright finishing with 15 points, seven boards and five assists in an 87-63 victory over INEA AZS Poznan.

Despite battling a migraine headache, Lauren Jackson had 25 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Canberra TransAct Capitals to an 82-62 win over the BDS Logan Thunder on Saturday. Jackson added five blocks in just 23:23 of action, shooting 9-of-18 from the field. Still, the Caps made up no ground on the Sydney Uni Acuvue Flames, who defeated the same Logan team on Friday night, 89-66. Suzy Batkovic-Brown put up 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists, making 10 shots in 17 attempts.

Sydney retains a half-game advantage in the race for second place in the WNBL, but Canberra could pull even by sweeping two games next week at fifth-place Adelaide and home against ninth-place Perth. Sydney visists Townville, which currently sits fourth.

Liomatic Umbertide suffered its second straight loss in Serie A play, falling 61-52 to Lavezzini Parma. Chelsea Newton, who played the full 40 minutes, had six points and three rebounds.

Swin Cash saw her Guangdong Asia Aluminum squad come up short against league-leading Henan Yuguang Gold & Lead over the weekend by an 86-77 final. Cash came within one assist of a triple-double, handing out nine assists in addition to scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 boards.

Gospic Croatia nearly erased Wisla Can-Pack from the ranks of the unbeaten in Euroleague play, but Wisla survived and improved to 5-0 on Iziane Castro Marques‘ winning bucket with 29 seconds left to play. Wisla forced a miss on the other end to defeat Gospic 77-75. After beating the powers of Group B, Wisla got a surprising test from a Gospic team that entered the game 0-4. Wisla’s perfect record looked secure when the team led70-61 with 4:55 left to play, but Gospic followed with a 14-5 run to tie the game before Castro Marques scored the final points.

It was another brilliant effort for Janell Burse, who has firmly established herself as one of the Euroleague’s top posts. She scored a game-high 31 points, making 12 of her 16 shot attempts from the field and 7-of-10 at the free throw line. Burse added 15 boards, good for her fifth double-double in as many games, and four blocked shots. She remains the Euroleague’s leading rebounder at 13.0 a night.

Just two other Euroleague teams remain undefeated. Rivas Ecopolis is 4-0, and Spartak Moscow Region, which has yet to make up a game that was postponed, is 3-0. Both teams will play tomorrow. Midway through play in Group B, Wisla will have a one-game lead over the winner of tomorrow’s matchup between Halcon Avenida Salamanca and Beretta Familia Schio.

On Monday in Israel, Maccabi Ashdod won its fourth straight game to improve to 4-2, good for second place in D-I. The Storm’s Ashley Walker led the way to the 91-85 victory over Elizur Maccabi Natanya with 29 points on 11-of-20 shooting. She grabbed six rebounds and handed out three assists.

Consider Wisla Can-Pack the early surprise of Euroleague play. Granted a spot in Group B only when CSKA Moscow was forced to suspend operations days before the start of the season, Janell Burse’s squad has taken full advantage of the opportunity. Today’s 77-71 road win over ESB Lille Metropole moved Wisla to 3-0 in Euroleague play. Ros Casares Valencia is the only other 3-0 team, though three other squads have a chance to match that record by winning tomorrow and Spartak Moscow Region is 2-0 because last week’s game was postponed.

After trailing early, Wisla wrested control of the game in the second quarter and held a Lille comeback attempt at bay with timely scores. Burse was a key player, putting up 15 points and 10 boards for her third straight Euroleague double-double. (She remains the leading rebounder in Euroleague play.) Burse got plenty of help from Polish post Ewelina Kobryn, who also had a double-double while scoring a game-high 24 points.

Over the weekend, Wisla defeated LKS Siemens AGD 78-67 in Polish PLKK play, getting 11 points and six rebounds from Burse in just 18 minutes of action.

Down under, Suzy Batkovic-Brown led the Sydney Uni Acuvue Flames to a 90-51 defeat of an overmatched Dandenong squad. Batkovic-Brown scored 31 points at a point-a-minute pace, shooting 11-of-23 from the field and ripping down 13 rebounds. Through six weeks, Batkovic-Brown is tied for high-scoring honors in the WNBL (PDF) with L.A.’s Kristi Harrower at 25.0 points per game. She’s third in rebounding (9.8 rpg) and blocked shots (2.2 bpg) while also ranking in the top 10 with 1.7 spg.

Maccabi Ashdod earned its first easy victory of the Israeli DI season, defeating Elizur Holon 83-51 to even its record at 2-2. Ashley Walker had 13 points and six boards in the win, which marked the debut of new Ashdod point guard Temeka Johnson. The leader of the WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury replaces injured Natasha Lacy as Ashdod’s third import and starter at the point.

Swin Cash checked in via Twitter to report that her Guangdong Asia Aluminum team won 88-80 on Sunday in WCBA play. Cash contributed 23 points and 14 rebounds and picked up an extraordinarily rare technical foul dealing with physical play.

During their time together in Seattle, Janell Burse and Iziane Castro Marques played key roles in plenty of Storm victories. Well, the duo is back at it in Europe. A day after arriving in Poland, Castro Marques scored 22 points in her debut for Wisla Can-Pack Krakow, while Burse posted her second consecutive double-double (18 points, 15 boards) in Wisla’s 85-78 home win over MiZo Pecs 2010. Wisla improved to 2-0 in Euroleague play and is for the moment atop Group B  (the winner of tomorrow’s Beretta-Famila-ESB Lille Metropole tilt will also be 2-0).

“I am very happy,” said Wisla Head Coach Jose Hernandez. “We played very good offense but need to work to improve our game on defense. A great game for Izi Castro and Burse. Congratulations to the Hungarian team for a very good game.”

Burse has dominated the glass so far in Euroleague play. With 28 rebounds in two games, she leads all players in rebounding.