FIBA Basketball

Amazing Mondelo run, Dotto high point and strong Swedish flavor headline top 10 talking points

MUNICH (EuroLeague Women) - There's no stopping Dynamo Kursk and their playcaller Lucas Mondelo who grabs the limelight along with Francesca Dotto in our top 10 talking points from EuroLeague Women Week 9.

1. Lucas Mondelo signs off calendar year with Dynamo Kursk unbeaten in 2017!

What an incredible achievement from the Spanish playcaller in a high-level tournament that is so fiercely competitive.

2. Francesca Dotto sets a 2017-18 season assists record in the competition

The Italian guard couldn't quite get her team to a win as Famila Schio were edged out by Fenerbahce, but she became the first player in the competition this season to hand out 11 assists. That finally gave us a game-high leader with a bunch of playmakers having all hit 10 during various games this season.

3. Fenerbahce are looking like a Final Four lock

A post shared by Aerial Powers (@aerial_powers23) on Dec 16, 2017 at 9:46am PST

With everyone expecting UMMC, Yakin Dogu Universitesi and reigning champions Dynamo Kursk to make it to Final Four, are Fenerbahce also now a lock? They certainly look like they have taken a step up in the past couple of weeks and that win against Schio underlined their potential. The form and fitness of Aerial Powers seems to have given them some extra depth.

4. A loss, but all hail that ESBVA-LM defense

It took a big three from Epiphanny Prince down the stretch to break their stubborn resistance and they eventually fell to the flawless Dynamo Kursk, but you have to admire that ESBVA-LM defense! They only gave up 63 points to a team averaging 86 per game and having the best scorers in the competition.

5. Nadezhda win helped by one of the plays of the season from Fedorenkova

Wow! I love this... one of the plays of the entire #EuroLeagueWomen season by @Fedorenkova_K - the mini ankle-breaker and and big triple right on the buzzer ⏲️ Sweet 👏👏👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/TSDXD7MbAJ
— Paul Nilsen (@basketmedia365) December 20, 2017

Nadezhda doubled their win tally for the entire season by beating Wisla who they had gotten their previous victory against. They were helped by a huge play from Ekaterina Fedorenkova.

6. We asked where Coach Kovacik was last week...and now we know

Good morning from Hong Kong. 🇨🇳👌🌞

A post shared by CMK (@coach_maros_kovacik) on Dec 20, 2017 at 4:22pm PST

Nadezhda didn't exactly promote the fact they had parted ways with Maros Kovacik, with us all having been surprised by his absence last week when we questioned why he was not coaching against Fenerbahce. Well, the former Slovak Republic playcaller is off to China to write a new chapter in his career. Good luck Coach!

7. Swedish international Frida Eldebrink shows her babysitting skills

All 😊😊😊 in Istanbul 🇹🇷 as @Ydu_melekleri power their way to an eye-catching 8-1 record off the back of a comfortable 81-61 success against @Basketlma! #EuroLeagueWomen

A post shared by EuroLeague Women (@euroleaguewomen) on Dec 20, 2017 at 9:45am PST

With her sister Elin playing on the court for Yakin Dogu Universitesi and the family of the legendary Ann Wauters there to support mum against BLMA, it was great to see Frida Eldebrink helping out! And, she certainly knows about contributing on a EuroLeague Women court too!

8. Will Farhiya Abdi's arrival at Wisla catapult them into EuroCup Women?

Witamy w Krakowie!https://t.co/h6se1A3DKS pic.twitter.com/iAkAeyfzI1
— Wisła CANPACK Kraków (@wislabasket) December 20, 2017

Wisla are languishing at 1-8 and need an injection of quality and her athleticism and scoring ability will be vital in these last five weeks of action when the Krakow club need some wins if they want to jump into EuroCup Women.

9. Another Sweden star Amanda Zahui lands best individual effort of the week

Still a firm contender in the Race for Regular Season MVP, Zahui added to her cause with another brilliant display in Prague's thrilling win against Galatasaray. Her double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds was absolutely vital.

10. Sopron take the Performance of the Week

Roberto Iniguez értékelése. / Roberto Iniguez's comments after the game vs. @CCC_Polkowice: https://t.co/MgVPiN6iK7
— WB SOPRON (@WBSopron) December 20, 2017

It was a hard choice to make, but the way Sopron Basket are improving on their best Regular Season in recent memory is very impressive. They dismantled CCC Polkowice rather brutally and their 70-53 victory which took them to 6-3 gets the vote this week! Good job, Roberto Iniguez!

All our talking points are selected by our women's basketball specialist Paul Nilsen. You can follow him @basketmedia365

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