EuroLeague Women - Week 1 Review

MUNICH (EuroLeague Women) - Women's basketball specialist Paul Nilsen reflects on a tumultuous opening night of the 2015-16 EuroLeague Women season.

Boom time
Has there ever been a more intriguing and eye-popping opening night to a EuroLeague Women season? I have not seen one in my time covering the women's game. Indeed has there ever been a more interesting or jaw dropping night of regular season action in the competition?

Wednesday night's curtain raiser was spectacular as it had absolutely everything. From new players, new teams and even a new venue, to shock results and some breath-taking games and overtime action. EuroLeague Women crashed back into the basketball calendar with a truly deafening boom!

Turkish delight and despair
Most eye-opening was arguably Fenerbahce and Galatasaray crashing so painfully. Istanbul's juggernaut duo were knocked off the road rather unceremoniously and it's difficult to know if we can take anything from these results in terms of the season ahead and the relative ambitions of two teams who contested the Final only 18 months ago.

But to concentrate on their respective first night failings would be doing a disservice to both Dynamo Kursk and Beretta Famila Schio. Kursk dynamo Nnemkadi Ogwumike picked up where she left off and continues to love this competition. She is such a productive player and helped blunt the Fenerbahce frontcourt who were swamped and did not even break 30% in the paint.

As for Schio, their subsequent celebrations on social media showed what it meant to win so big on the road at Galatasaray. They really did shine on the glass and this will have made everyone sit up and take notice. In mitigation for the losing side, Nevriye Yilmaz was missing and Jewell Loyd had a poor shooting night on her debut for the hosts and will get better for sure. She will have to, because the backcourt isn't blessed with firepower and it underlines the pressure she is under to perform.

In stark contrast, what about that win for Agu Spor? A sensational victory at defending champions ZVVZ USK Prague who had shot the lights out at the recent SuperCup Women, but clearly left their shooting boots in Braine. Janel McCarville played a master veteran hand in the success, having come in as a late replacement for long-term injury victimMarianna Tolo.

Dazzling debuts
You really have to admire Mithra Castors Braine. From their sensational run to last season's EuroCup Women Final and now placing a flag centrally on the EuroLeague Women's map with a historic first success in their first game.

Their win at Wisla was exhilarating in every aspect, in terms of the outcome and the manner of a memorable overtime triumph. We have waited a long time for Ukraine national team sensation Alina Iagupova to finally play in this wonderful competition and she didn't disappoint.

Meanwhile Brittney Griner announced her similarly belated arrival on the EuroLeague Women scene with a power-packed double-double of 17 points and 10 boards for UMMC at Bourges and she is going to be a match-up nightmare.

Kayla McBride also made some noise for Nadezhda as she stepped out in the tournament for the first time with 19 points in a sparkling shooting effort, while Odyssey Sims played her part for Agu Spor.

Weekly gongs
Team performance of the week: I am spoiled for choice, but I have to give my first gong to Agu Spor just ahead of Castors Braine and Schio. Their win against the holders in Prague was outstanding and so congratulations to head coach Ayhan Avci and his players.
Individual performance of the week: She did miss four free throws from just five attempts so it wasn't perfect, but I can't look past Griner seriously bringing it to the table for UMMC in a tough environment, against an opponent with a brilliant home record.
Unsung hero: It's shared this week. Pinar Demirok played a smart 25 minutes of hard-nosed defense for Agu Spor and while the numbers don't reflect that, it helped to underpin their super victory. Meanwhile Marjorie Capreaux had 12 points, eight assists and seven boards for Castors Braine which maybe got overlooked behind Iagupova's heroics and a double-double from Ann Wauters.
Rising star: Zhosselina Maiga is a Russian center with a potentially big future and it was good to see the teenager make such a positive impression for Nadezhda against Spar CityLift Girona.

Footnotes
Credit to Maros Kovacik of Good Angels Kosice and Frederic Dusart of Villeneuve d'Ascq for their one-sided wins against Perfumerias Avenida and UE Sopron respectively. They were vitally important as you sense there could almost ultimately be a ‘mini league' between those four teams in Group A.

It was nice seeing Roberto Iniguez back in EuroLeague Women again, a coach I have a lot of time for. He had his Nadezhda team playing well against former side Uni Girona, whose debut emphasised the scale of the task ahead.

Keeping with a Spanish theme, I had identified Laura Nicholls as being able to potentially shine at Wisla and despite the defeat, she posted an excellent double-double effort.

Finally, it was wonderful to see almost 5,000 fans congregate at the brand new 'Le Prado' to watch Tango Bourges - even if Griner and Co. did spoil the celebrations.

Go to www.fibaeurope.com/euroleaguewomen for full coverage of the EuroLeague Women.

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