Nigeria advances to Final Four

Nigeria defeated Mozambique 77-49 today in the quarterfinals of Afrobasket Women 2011 and advance to the semifinals where they will play reigning champion Senegal tomorrow. This brief report of today's game reveals that Ros was not one of the top scorers.

Nigeria and Senegal met earlier on the first day of the preliminary round. Senegal won that game 86-62.

The other two winners today were Angola, who defeated Nigeria 67-60 in the preliminary round, and highly-favored host Mali.

Ros and Helene Ogunjimi on defense against Angola in preliminary round game

Ros's adventure continues

Ros's African adventure continues next weekend.

The preliminary round of Afrobasket Women 2011 finished today. Nigeria defeated Rwanda 59-49. They placed third in their group with a 3-2 record, so advance to the quarterfinal round.

The remaining rounds of the competition are "one and done", and it's going to be a rigorous weekend — quarterfinals on Friday, semifinals on Saturday and finals on Sunday. Remember that there's a lot at stake in this competition; the winner qualifies for the 2012 Olympic Games

There's not much coverage of African women's basketball on the internet. I've been able to find box scores for just the first two of Nigeria's five games. Although Nigeria lost its first game to reigning champion Senegal, Ros's performance was outstanding. She made four of five three-point attempts and led her team with 16 points. In the second game (a 60-31 victory over Guinea), she scored just five points, but also had four rebounds and three assists.

There aren't many photos either. This is the only one I found of a Nigerian game. Is that Ros peeking out in the middle?

This one is definitely Ros — in her ceremonial gown at the All-Africa Games earlier this month.

Jeanette joins the show

Listen to Jeanette on the indianapolis RadioNow morning show, as she talks about the Indiana Fever's upcoming game in the Eastern Conference finals, the transition from Cali to Indianapolis, and being considered a hottie!

Brooke is set for another season in Italy

Brooke's hometown newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal, has published a nice report on how she's enjoying life as a professional basketball player. Read more...

Earlier this summer, Brooke's team, Pool Comense, reported on her return to the team after a season in France. Read more...

Up and down WNBA season for Stanford alums

Jake Curtis reviews how the WNBA season went for Kayla, Jayne and Nicole and is still going on for Jeanette and Candice in this article.

Trisha Stevens into Stanford Hall of Fame

Trisha Stevens ('91) is one of the nine new members that Stanford will induct into the University's Athletic Hall of Fame.

A member of Stanford's 1990 NCAA championship-winning team, Stevens was a two-time first team All-Pac-10 selection. She led the 1990 national champion Cardinal in both scoring (17.6) and field goal percentage (54.9) and also grabbed 5.9 rebounds per game. She made 117 starts over her Stanford career and ranked second on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,649 points at the time of her graduation. She also ranked second in career scoring average (13.5), field goal percentage (53.4) and was third in free throw percentage (79.5). She was a member of USA Basketball's U-18 National team in 1989 and twice was named to the NCAA All-Regional team.

All of the inductees will be honored at a private reception and dinner at McCaw Hall in the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center on Friday, Nov. 11 beginning at 6:00 p.m. The class will also be introduced at halftime of Stanford's football game against Oregon on Nov 12.

In addition, Trisha will be honored by Stanford Women's Basketball at halftime of the game against Gonzaga on Sunday, Nov 13.

Read more...

Tall Ferns swept by Australian Opals

The New Zealand women's basketball team will have to go through a tough qualifying tournament next year if they wish to make their fourth consecutive Olympic Games.

New Zealand lost all three games of the Oceania Olympic women's basketball qualifying series to Australia:
77-64, Recap, Stats
92-73, Recap, Stats
82-57, Recap, Stats

Jillian was a strong defensive force for the Tall Ferns with the team-high 20 rebounds. She scored in double-digits in each of the three games and was the Tall Ferns' third-best scorer.

Jillian may have tried another sport while the Tall Ferns were in Sydney for the third game of the series.

Nigeria wins the bronze in All-Aftica Games

In the match to decide the bronze medal winner, Nigeria beat Mozambique by 72-69, a disappointing outcome for thousands of Mozambican fans crammed in the Maxaquene pavilion in central Maputo to support their team.

Nigeria loses in All-Africa semi-finals

The Nigerian women's basketball team won their quarter-final game against Rwanda 71-63, then lost the semi-final game 70-55 to Angola.

Reaching the Final Four was a major accomplishment for the Lady Tigers, who are trying to return to former glories. Nigeria won the FIBA Africa Championship for Women in 2003 and 2005, as well as the All Africa Games in 2003. But since that 2005 gold, the medals have dried up for Nigeria and they have not competed at a major global tournament in the last five years.

The next event of Ros's African adventures is AfroBasket Women, which will take place in Mali later this month (Sep 23 - Oct 2). The winner of that tournament will qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

RosGO in Africa

There's very little news about African women's basketball posted to the internet. But Ros really is in Africa, as a member of the Nigerian national team, as evidenced by this photo that Kate Paye recently posted to Twitter:

The photo was taken a week ago at the opening ceremony of the All-Africa games in Mozambique. This is a multi-sport competition in which 48 African nations participate.

Wikipedia reports that the Nigerian women's basketball team has won three of four games in the preliminary round and has advanced to the quarter-finals which will take place tomorrow.