The day’s most surprising Euroleague outcome might have been this – all four quarterfinal series ended today in sweeps, with nary a deciding Game 3 in sight. Second only to that in unexpected results is Sparta&K Moscow Region overcoming a disappointing regular season and the loss of Lauren Jackson to reach the Euroleague Final Four for a fifth consecutive season.

Sparta&K completed its sweep of favored Fenerbahce with a resounding 74-56 victory today in Vidnoje. Epiphanny Prince sandwiched a pair of scores around the halftime break, helping spark a 12-2 run that pushed Sparta&K’s lead to 15 early in the third quarter. After Fenerbahce rallied back within 11, Spart&K answered with a 10-0 spurt that all but put the game away. Basically, it was the kind of dominant performance Sparta&K has made a habit during its run atop Euroleague that has included four consecutive championships.

Prince scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while Sue Bird was typically efficient at the point – 13 points on 5-of-9 from the field, three assists and just one turnover in 31 minutes of play. Taj McWilliams controlled the paint, contributing eight points and 10 rebounds. Again, Sparta&K did a great job of containing Angel McCoughtry, who was limited to eight points on 4-of-10 shooting.

The other three teams went on the road to close out their series sweeps. Most impressive was UMMC Ekaterinburg, which swamped Cras Basket Taranto by a ridiculous 74-32 final. Suffocating defense stifled Taranto to 29.5 percent shooting. Only Sophia Young, with 12, reached double-figure scoring. Taranto’s Americans, Megan Mahoney and Michelle Greco, shot 2-of-10 and 0-of-5 respectively. (Greco was hampered by injury.) Taranto was able to keep it close for a quarter before totaling just 21 points over the next three. Candace Parker had 16 points and six rebounds for Ekaterinburg, which also got 10 points and seven boards from Maria Stepanova. Svetlana Abrosimova scored two points in 11 minutes.

Ros Casares Valencia hardly dominated its series against Bourges Basket, but Friday’s 63-58 win in France was enough to get Ros Casares through. Valencia built an early lead before the home team took the advantage early in the fourth quarter. Ros Casares used defense to hold Bourges at bay, holding them without a field goal for more than seven minutes. That was enough time for Ros Casares to build a double-digit lead, making Bourges’ final run too little and too late. Again, Katie Douglas torched the Bourges defense for 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting in addition to grabbing nine boards. Beyond that, Valencia enjoyed balanced scoring, including six points and five boards for Jana Vesela. Bourges, meanwhile, totally depended on Cathy Joens (20 points) and Emmeline Ndongue (16). When they went cold, so did Bourges.

In the last of the quarterfinals, Halcon Avenida offered perhaps the day’s most unexpected victory, beating a solid Wisla Can-Pack Krakow team 72-60 in Poland. The visitors led from start to finish and by as many as 22 points, giving more than enough cushion for a late Wisla run. Five Avenida players scored double-figures with Sancho Lyttle adding nine points. She and Erika de Souza combined for 20 points and 16 rebounds. Belinda Snell wasn’t part of the balanced scoring on an off night, finishing scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting. Erin Phillips was held below her usual average with just five points for Wisla, though she found other ways to contribute, grabbing eight boards and handing out five assists. Yelena Leuchanka paced Wisla with 19 points.

The Final Four will take place on April 8 and April 10, and we know now it will be in either Spain or Russia as one of the finalists plays host. We also can be reasonably confident the matchups will pit UMMC Ekaterinburg against Sparta&K in one semifinal and Halcon Avenida against Ros Casares in the other, as Euroleague rules try to avoid single-nation showdowns in the final. These are four Euroleague powers with a lot of talent and an equal amount of pride, which should make for a great finish to the Euroleague season.

International action is heating up beyond just the Euroleague. That includes the EuroCup, which has already reached the semifinal round. Yesterday, Elizur Ramla took a first step toward the finals by defeating Sony Athinaikos 74-59 at home in the first leg of the two-game, aggregate series. Le’coe Willingham powered Ramla with 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting, five rebounds and five steals. Tanisha Wright finished with 10 points, six assists and three steals and three other Ramla players scored double-figures. Athinaikos’ Ruth Riley struggled with foul trouble, putting up 12 points and five rebounds in 19 minutes.

Ramla needs to win or lose by fewer than 15 points in next Thursday’s return leg to win the series and face either Arras or Chevakata, who are separated by just one point in the other semi.

Down Under, the WNBL began its postseason this week. The Logan BDS Thunder knocked the Dandenong Jayco Rangers out of the running with an 83-73 win in Wednesday’s Elimination Final. As the fourth seed, Dandenong hosted the game, but hot shooting by Olaf Lange’s charges was too much. The Thunder shot 47.7 percent from the field and knocked down 10 three-pointers, including six from Sarah Graham, who scored 20 points. Renae Camino had 21 for Logan. The duo got more support than the Rangers’ high scorers, Abby Bishop (22 points, seven rebounds) and Kathleen MacLeod (24 points, seven assists).

The Thunder advances to play the Bendigo Bank Spirit in Sunday’s Minor Semifinal. Saturday’s Major Semifinal pits the Canberra TransAct Capitals against the Bulleen Global Metals Boomers. The winner of that game will host the Grand Final. The loser still has a chance to reach the Grand Final by beating the winner of the Minor Semifinal.

As the Euroleague quarterfinals tipped off on Tuesday, three of the four higher seeds took care of business on their home courts. The exception? Sparta&K Moscow Region went to Turkey and knocked off top seed Fenerbahce 86-78 behind a huge second half. Early on Fenerbahce seemed likely to cruise. The hosts led 25-12 after one quarter and extended their advantage to 16 points by halftime. Sparta&K cut the deficit to five heading to the fourth period and nearly doubled up Fenerbahce over the final 10 minutes, outscoring them 27-14.

Sue Bird had 12 points and three assists to help lead Sparta&K back and was one of four Sparta&K players to score double-figures. Epiphanny Prince led the way with 19 and Taj McWilliams and Irina Osipova scored 16 apiece. Sparta&K was also stout defensively, holding Angel McCoughtry to nine points on 4-of-11 shooting. Posts Ivana Matovic and Nevriye Yilmaz combined for 44 points, but they were the lone Fenerbahce players with at least 10 points.

Sparta&K now has a chance to sweep the series and advance to the Euroleague Final Four at home in Vidnoje on Friday. The other three Game 1 winners will have to go on the road to get the sweep.

In a matchup of Storm players, Halcon Avenida blew by Wisla Can-Pak Krakow 87-70 on Tuesday. Avenida’s advantage came entirely in the second quarter, won by the home team 34-14. Alba Torrens scored 19 points for Avenida, which shot 56.3 percent from the field, and Erika de Souza had 17 points and eight rebounds. Belinda Snell was on the other end of many of those scores, handing out six assists to go along with her seven points. Erin Phillips led Wisla with 15 points and four assists.

The day’s other lopsided final came in Russia, where UMMC Ekaterinburg handled Cras Basket Taranto 68-51. The game was closer much of the way before Ekaterinburg opened things up with an 11-2 run early in the fourth quarter. Sandrine Gruda powered Ekaterinburg with 19 points and six rebounds. Olga Arteshina had 16 points and nine boards, while Celine Dumerc handed out seven assists and came up with six steals. Svetlana Abrosimova missed both of her shot attempts in seven minutes of action. Taranto played without former Storm guard Michelle Greco.

Also in Spain, Ros Casares Valencia topped Bourges Basket 65-58 in a game Ros Casares led virtually from start to finish. Katie Douglas supplied almost all of the scoring Valencia needed, putting up 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting. Rebekkah Brunson added 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Jana Vesela had seven points and five boards in 38 minutes of action. Cathy Joens scored 18 points for Bourges.

Today was the deciding day for both the Euroleague’s best-of-three eighth-final series and the EuroCup’s aggregate quarterfinal matchups and everything came up Storm.

Sparta&K Moscow Region is on to the next round after a 69-63 home victory in Wednesday’s Game 3 over Beretta Famila Schio. After a timeout, Sparta&K secured the win with an 8-0 run that pushed its lead to nine with 1:07 left on the clock. Sue Bird had two points and an assist during that stretch and had four rebounds and three assists to go along with her team-high 18 points. Taj McWilliams added 14 points and nine boards as Sparta&K overcame a double-double from Janel McCarville (16 points, 14 rebounds) and 18 points from Laura Macchi.

In the other Euroleague action involving the Storm, Ros Casares Valencia cruised to an 86-63 win over MKB Euroleasing Sopron. Katie Douglas was the big scorer with 25 points and eight rebounds, but everybody got in the act. Seven of the eight Ros Casares players who saw action scored at least eight points. Jana Vesela had eight points, two rebounds and two assists. Tijana Krivacevic scored six points and grabbed three rebounds for Sopron but was limited to just 22 minutes of action due to foul trouble.

Best-of-three quarterfinal series begin on Feb. 22 and the pairings are already set. Ros Casares will host Bourges, UMMC Ekaterinburg takes on Cras Basket Taranto and Sparta&K gets a challenging battle against Fenerbahce. The last quarterfinal matchup features both players the Storm signed on Wednesday – Erin Phillips and Wisla Can-Pak Krakow against Belinda Snell and Halcon Avenida.

Elizur Ramla did not need to win at Gran Canaria to advance after dominating the first game of the two-leg series and took a 24-point aggregate advantage into Wednesday’s EuroCup matchup. Still, Ramla decided to go ahead and win anyway, defeating Gran Canaria 76-72 in Spain. Le’coe Willingham topped Ramla with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Tanisha Wright scored 14 points and came up with three steals. Ramla got more balance than usual, and it was reserve Shiran Zairy who helped ice the game with a late three-pointer, one of three she made in 12 minutes of action.

Ramla will learn its semifinal opponent tomorrow, when the other two quarterfinal matchups conclude. French club Arras is the other team through to the semis.

The WNBL is closing in on the end of its regular season and the Dandenong Jayco Rangers are fighting for one of five spots in the postseason. The Rangers helped out their chances with a pair of wins over the weekend. On Friday, Dandenong knocked off the lowly Adelaide Link Lightning 81-74 in a game that was slightly delayed by a leaky roof. Abby Bishop had 15 points and nine rebounds in the win. On Sunday, the Rangers completed their road sweep by beating the West Coast Waves 90-75 behind 22 points and 13 boards  from Bishop. Katherine MacLeod matched that total,while Stephanie Cumming added 20 more as Dandenong relied on three scorers. Tully Bevilaqua had 10 points and five assists for the Waves.

At 11-9, the Rangers are now tied for fourth place in the WNBL. However, they are tied in the loss column with Sydney and Townsville, both of whom are out of the playoffs at the moment. That makes the next two rounds critical. The Canberra TransAct Capitals improved to 16-4 with Saturday’s 99-79 win over the Logan Thunder and still have a chance to pass Bulleen for the top spot in the league. The hot-shooting Capitals, who overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to win going away, were paced by Marianna Tolo’s 24 points. Jessica Bibby scored 18 and Suzy Batkovic had 16 points and nine rebounds. Alison Lacey set up the scorers, handing out eight assists in 19 minutes to go along with five rebounds.

Because the teams featuring Storm players on the continent are in action in Euroleague, they all had the weekend off, so that’s about the extent of the weekend overseas update. Stay tuned for more Euroleague action on Wednesday.

MKB Euroleasing Sopron and Beretta-Famila Schio stayed alive during Friday’s Game 2 of Euroleague quarterfinal series, while UMMC Ekaterinurg advanced with a 2-0 sweep.

Sopron shook off a lopsided opening-game loss to play Ros Casares Valencia tight at home in Hungary in Game 2. Storm draft pick Tijana Krivacevic was the biggest reason why, bouncing back with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting and five rebounds. The teams were tied at 70 inside the final minute before Katalin Honti split two free throws with 28 seconds left to give Sopron the lead for good. Zane Tamane added an insurance free throw to produce the final 72-70 margin. Rebekkah Brunson had 23 points and 13 rebounds for Ros Casares, while Katie Douglas scored 16 points and grabbed seven boards. Jana Vesela had just one point in 18 minutes.

Sparta&K Moscow Region and Schio also went right down to the buzzer. Epiphanny Prince made a three with 21 seconds left to pull Sparta&K within one, but after a putback by Isabelle Yacoubou-Dehoui, Schio was able to foul Taj McWilliams with time running out. McWilliams intentionally missed the second attempt, but Sparta&K could not get the ball back for a shot to tie or win. Prince scored a game-high 26 points, with Taj McWilliams (11) the only other Sparta&K player to reach double-figures. Sue Bird had six points and handed out her lone assist on Prince’s late three. Yacoubou-Dehoui paced four Schio players in double-digits with 19 points. Janel McCarville had 11 points and nine boards.

Both teams will return home for the deciding Game 3 of the series next Wednesday. Ekaterinburg, meanwhile, gets to rest up after beating Rivas Ecopolis 83-74. It was hardly easy for the Russian power, which needed overtime after Ekaterinburg’s Celine Dumerc tied the game with 34 seconds left in regulation. In the extra session, Rivas Ecopolis made just one shot in eight attempts, allowing Ekaterinburg to win going away. After playing a key role in Game 1, Svetlana Abrosimova saw just two minutes of action as Ekaterinburg turned to other players from its arsenal of stars. Olga Arteshina and Cappie Pondexter scored 19 points apiece, with Pondexter adding seven rebounds and seven assists.

The EuroCup is already in the quarterfinals, where Elizur Ramla got off to a great start with a 78-54 blowout win in the home leg of the two-game aggregate series. Gran Canaria will need to win Wednesday’s return match by at least 25 points to win the series. Le’coe Willingham dominated Gran Canaria in the paint, scoring 23 points and grabbing 21 rebounds – 12 on the offensive end. Tanisha Wright flirted with a triple-double, scoring nine points, coming up with eight rebounds and handing out eight assists. Shay Doron also scored 18 points for Ramla. Katherin Ress provided much of Gran Canaria’s production, finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.