TUR - Fener, Gala on a roll

ISTANBUL (Euroleague Women/EuroBasket Women) - It's hard to look at the Fenerbahce and Galatasaray squads and not think about the women´s national team.

The majority of players in that national squad that has taken Europe by storm the past couple of years comes from these two teams.

Olympians Birsel Vardarli, Esmeral Tuncluer and Yasemin Horasan are on the books of Fener while Isil Alben, Nevriye Yilmaz, Saziye Ivegin and Bahar Caglar are among those in the Gala team that featured in London.

Another Fenerbahce player, Neven Nevlin, was the star of Turkey's Semi-Final upset of then defending champions France at the EuroBasket Women 2011 in Poland and has every chance of returning to the national team next summer.

The fact that the teams are a combined 9-1 in the EuroLeague Women and 13-1 in Turkey's domestic league bodes well for the national side at next year's EuroBasket Women in France.

One of the interesting aspects to Fenerbahce's campaign is that the team is now led by Roberto Iniguez, a Spaniard who has been on fire since being appointed coach of Ros Casares one year ago and guiding that club to a EuroLeague Women and Liga Femenina Double.

When the Valencia club lost its main sponsors and folded after last season, Fener pounced and hired a man who has the look of being one of the rising stars in the women´s coaching profession.

The 45-year-old's philosophy can be summed up perfectly in his post-game remarks from a November win over Arras in Europe, when he
said: "In my team I want discipline, defense ..."

"My ambition in the EuroLeague is to win game after game, step by step.

"Don't think about the future, we need to show week after week that we are the best."

That is not a bad approach for any team to take.

If the message becomes ingrained in the Fenerbahce players, it will only make them better.

Fener´s seventh win in the domestic league came over the weekend in an 80-68 victory over Ceyhan Belediye.

As for Galatasaray, who won 67-54 at Adana Botas over the weekend, they are now coached not by national team boss Ceyhun Yildizoglu but Ekrem Memnun.

Gala are going into a mouthwatering showdown this week in the EuroLeague, a battle of unbeatens against UMMC Ekaterinburg.

One of the players in the Ekat side is Quanitra Hollingsworth, a 1.96m center who took the naturalized spot from Nevlin at the Olympics.

Turkey will be among the favorites to win the gold medal next year at the EuroBasket Women in France.

They will serve as hosts of the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women.

FIBA