Final Four Flashback: The 2005 Wauters and Arteshina connection

SOPRON (EuroLeague Women) – Two truly great EuroLeague Women warriors might just come full circle when they both step out at this year's Final Four in Sopron.

Both Ann Wauters and Olga Arteshina will suit up for what will be their 12th Final Four appearances - with the pair potentially meeting in the Final if Yakin Dogu Universitesi and UMMC Ekaterinburg win their respective Semi-Finals.

If you rewind the Final Four clock all the way back to 2005, the duo were crowned champions as teammates for Russian side VBM-SGAU of Samara. It was a consecutive title for Belgian legend Wauters, who had previously won it by top-scoring with 19 points for US Valenciennes Olympic in a 2004 75-53 triumph against Mizo-Pecs.

There was a sense of déjà vu in 2005, when Wauters stood on the top of the podium – top-scoring again [sharing 32 points with French guard Edwige Lawson] as VBM-SGAU beat Gambrinus Brno 66-69 in a thriller to deny the Czech heavyweights – despite a double-double by MVP Taj McWilliams.

For Arteshina, who scored a team-high 17 points in the 66-58 Semi-Final win over Lietuvos, her winners' medal was one of many high points at club level and for her country. She scooped the title along with her fellow golden generation of Russians such as the great Maria Stepanova, Ilona Korstin and Svetlana Abrosimova.

Whether Sopron 2018 will be the end of the EuroLeague Women road for Arteshina and Wauters remains to be seen.

But, you certainly wouldn't back against one of them adding yet another piece of silverware to their eye-bulging collection of medals.

FIBA