May 21, 2015

Who's playing ball this summer

Eight Stanford alumnae are playing professional basketball this summer — six with the WNBA and two in New Zealand. In order of seniority:

Candice Wiggins '08, in her eighth WNBA season, is playing for the New York Liberty.

Jillian Harmon '09 is in Dunedin NZ playing in the New Zealand Women's Basketball Championship (NZWBC) for the Oceana Goldrush Otago. Jillian will return to Italy next season. She has signed with Lucca for 2015-16. Story: Gesam Gas Lucca signs New Zealander forward Jillian Harmon

Jayne Appel' 10 is in her sixth season with the San Antonio Silver Stars.

Kayla Pedersen '11, in her fifth WNBA season, is playing for the Connecticut Sun.

Jeanette Pohlen '11, is back for her fourth season with the Indiana Fever after rehabbing from an ACL tear last season.

Nneka Ogwumike '12 is in her fourth season with the Los Angeles Sparks.

Mikaela Ruef '13 is in Tasmania playing in the Southeastern Australia Basketball League (SEABL) for the Heritage Isle Tornadoes and in the North West Basketball Union (NWBU) for the Ulverston Red Hoppers.

Joslyn Tinkle '13 isn't playing pro ball this summer, but has signed with the Sydney Uni Flames for 2015-16. That's the team that Mikaela played for last season – I don't know if she's re-signed with them. Story: Flames sign Joslyn Tinkle.

Chiney Ogwumike '14 has signed for her second season with the Connecticut Sun. She'll be sidelined indefinitely while she recovers from microfracture surgery on her knee.

Amber Orrange '15 is in her rookie season with the New York Liberty. Story: Rookie Q&A: Meet Amber Orrange

The WNBA preseason begins tomorrow (Friday, May 22). The regular season begins on Friday, June 5 and runs through September 13 (schedule).

Only a few of the games will be shown on national television, but most of them will be streamed live on WNBA Live Access.

May 15, 2015

Alumnae Abroad: 2014-15 season-end report

The 2014-15 season is over for the eleven Stanford alumnae who played abroad. Here's how it went for them.

Seb, Cori and Jos got together at 2014 FIBA World Championship

Sebnem Kimyacioglu ('05) , Galatasaray (Turkey)

    Galatasaray, who won it all last season — EuroLeague Women, the Turkish TKBL league and the Turkish Cup (a midseason intraleague competition) — didn't do quite as well this season. It lost to Fenerbahce (last season's runner-up ) in a fierce EuroLeague Women quarter-final series, with a 2-point loss, then a 2-point win and finally a 5-point loss. But it led the league with a 23-3 win-loss record, won the Turkish Cup again, for the fifth consecutive time, and the TKBL championship, for the second consecutive time.

    Seb averaged 6.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists in the TKBL games and 4.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists in the EuroLeague Women games.

Cori Enghusen/Korel Engin ('02), Hatay (Turkey)

    Hatay ranked 12th (of 14) in the Turkish TKBL league with a 7-19 win-loss record.

    As Hatay's starting center, Cori averaged 3.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Joslyn Tinkle ('13), Canik (Turkey)

    Canik ranked 10th (of 14) in the Turkish TKBL league with a 9-17 win-loss record.

    Joslyn was Canik's starting power forward. She was their third-best scorer and rebounder with averages of 11.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. She was the fourth-best shot blocker in the league with an average of 1.0 per game.

    Josyln's season in Turkey ended early – she misssed the last four games of the season due to bone spurs and ligament damage in her ankle. But that had its bright side. She got back to the United States in time to see Gonzaga and her sister Elle play in the elite eight in Spokane.

Kristen Newlin/Nevin Nevlin('07), Istanbul University (Turkey)

Istanbul University ranked fourth in the Turkish TKBL league with a 17-9 win-loss record and ended its season with a loss in the quarter-finals of the league playoffs. It advanced to the semi-finals of EuroCup Women (the second-caliber international professional basketball league in Europe for women's clubs).

New, who had languished as a deep reserve for Fenerbahce for the past couple of seasons, had a rebirth this season as Istanbul University's starting center. She averaged 9.7 points, 8.5 rebounds (#8 in the league), 2.2 assists and 0.7 blocks (#10 in the league) in the TKBL games and 8.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 0.3 blocks in the EuroCup games.

New received Honorable Mention in the Eurobasket.com All-Turkish TKBL Awards.

Nneka Ogwumike ('12), Dynamo Kursk (Russia)

Dynamo Kursk had an excellent season. In its first-ever appearance in EuroLeague Women, it advanced to the Final Four where it won the bronze medal with a defeat of last season's silver medallist, Fenerbahce.

It ranked second in the Russian PBL league with a 15-3 win-loss record and ended its season at third place in the league playoffs.

Nneka was outstanding in both competitions. She led all EuroLeague players in scoring (19.5 ppg) and in double-doubles (12) and was second in rebounds (10.7 rpg) and field goal percentage (54.6%).

She was named the All-EuroLeague Player of the Year, Forward of the Year, Import of the Year and a member of the 1st Team and the All-Imports Team by Eurobasket.com.

In the PBL games, Nneka was the league's top scorer (17.9 ppg). She made 56.8% of her field goal attempts and 83.9% of her free throws and led her team in rebounding (6.3 rpg).

She was named the All-Russian PBL Forward of the Year and a member of the 1st Team and the All-Imports Team by Eurobasket.com.

Jillian Harmon ('09), Townsville Fire (Australia)

Townsville had an outstanding season. It won its first-ever Australian WNBL league championship with a victory over the reigning champion, Bendigo, in the title match. It was also the top-ranked team in the league with a 17-5 win-loss record.

Jillian came off the bench for Townsville and played an average of 23 minutes a game. She averaged 6.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists.

Mikaela Ruef ('13), Sydney Uni Flames (Australia)

Sydney Uni Flames ranked fourth in the Australian WNBL league with an 11-11 win-loss record and ended its season with a loss in the semi-finals of the league playoffs.

Mikaela had an very good season as Sydney UF's starting shooting forward. She led the team in rebounds with an average of 7.8 per game (#6 in the league) and in blocks with 0.9 per game (#7 in the league). She was their third-best scorer with an average of 10.4 points per game and tallied three double-doubles.

Regrettably, she lost her touch from beyond the arc that appeared late in her senior season at Stanford – she launched nine 3-pointers but made none. And her free-throw shooting hasn't improved. She went to the line, on average, four times per game but made only 59% of her attempts.

Kayla Pedersen ('11), Lucca (Italy)

Lucca ranked seventh (of 13) in the Italian Serie A1 league with a 13-11 win-loss record and ended its season with a loss in the quarter-finals of the league playoffs.

Kayla had a fine season as Lucca's starting shooting forward. She was Lucca's second-best scorer (12.8 ppg) and best rebounder (8.7 rpg, #10 in the league) and tallied ten double-doubles.

Chiney Ogwumike ('14), Famila Schio (Italy)

Famila Schio had an excellent season at home. It won the Italian Serie A1 league championship for the third consecutive time, was the top-ranked team in the league with a 21-3 win-loss record, and won its third consecutive Italian Cup (a midseason intraleague competition).

In EuroLeague Women, not so good — it went 6-8 in the first round, so failed to advance to the playoffs.

Chiney made a dazzling start in her rookie professional season before she injured her right knee in November. She left the team and returned to the United States where she had microfracture surgery on the knee.

Chiney played in only seven Italian A1 games and three EuroLeague Women games before the injury. She set records then that still held at the end of the season. She topped the Italian Serie A1 rankings for scoring (25.3 ppg), rebounding (13.1 rpg), steals (4.6 spg) and blocks (1.9 bpg). In EuroLeague play, she ranked second behind Nneka in scoring (19.3 ppg).

Sarah Boothe ('12), Widzew Lodz (Poland)

This was a very disappointing season for Widzew, which finished at the bottom of the Polish BLK league with a 4-18 win-loss record.

Sarah did a great job for Widzew in the post. She was Widzew's best shot blocker (1.3 bpg, #4 in the league) and best rebounder (9.2 rpg, #5 in the league). She was also their second-best scorer with 12.3 points per game. She had nine double-doubles.

Cissy Pierce ('08), Marburg (Germany)

Marburg ranked eighth (of 12) in the German DBBL league with an 8-14 win-loss record and ended its season with a loss in the quarter-finals of the league playoffs.

Cissy was Marburg's starting shooting forward. She averaged 8.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

May 5, 2015

Coach La Rocque

Lindy has her first coaching job, as an assistant at Belmont University — a private Christian university in Nashville. It sounds like a perfect match.

Lindy says," Belmont's academic standards and Christian values line up perfectly with the priorities I have set in my life."

Head coach Cameron Newbauer says, "She will be an asset on and off the court as she truly embodies what our program and university stands for here at Belmont."

The Belmont Bruins play in the Ohio Valley Conference, which includes a couple of teams you may recognize — Austin Peay and UT Martin (they were the Cardinal's third opponent at the Hawai'i tournament in 2012).

Click here for Belmont Athletics' announcement about Lindy