The NCAA Silver Anniversary Award annually recognizes distinguished individuals on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their collegiate athletics careers while taking into account professional achievements.
Click here for more information about Jennifer and two of the other 2015 recipients — Stanford Athletic Director Bernard Muir and Stanford baseball pitcher Mike Messina.
fibaeurope.com's women's basketball specialist Paul Nilsen takes a look back at the fourth week of action of the new EuroLeague Women season: Ogwumike is Week 4 top performer
Nneka leads EuroLeague Women in scoring (21.7ppg, shooting percentage (63.6% FGP) and double-doubles (3) and is second in rebounding(12.7rpg).
... from Queens to Stanford to Oakland,
... from the court to the sideline,
in Rosalyn Gold-Onwude Crosses the Sideline in New Role with the Warriors
Candice spent last week in Chile as a sports envoy for the U.S. State Department.
Sports Envoys are athletes and coaches who travel overseas to lead programs that were developed by U.S. embassies and consulates. These American coaches and athletes hold sports clinics for young people and their coaches, participate in community outreach activities, and engage youth in a dialogue on the importance of leadership and respect for diversity.
Candice was paired with basketball Hall of Famer Alex English for a week-long series of clinics and engagements in Santiago and Concepcion, Chile from November 16-22.
Click here for her account of the experience.
St Francis College is a private Franciscan college in Brooklyn. St Francis Brooklyn basketball teams compete in NCAA Division I Northeastern conference.
This WNBA article has more information: How Jayne Appel Stays Busy During the Offseason
Nneka has made a bang on her return to EuroLeague Women, taking Week 2 Top Performer honours in Dynamo Kursk's debut in Europe's premier women's club competition.
Read: Ogwumike is Week 2 Top Performer
And Chiney and Nneka have posted their fifth episode of #O is for Overseas.
Nneka and Chiney have launched YouTube channel TeamOgwumike where they'll grant you inside access as they venture to Russia and Italy for the next 6 months.
Hit the play button below to watch the first four episodes.
Play it in YouTube (click the YouTube icon in lower right) to subscribe to channel TeamOgwumike.
Eleven Stanford alumnae have signed contracts with professional basketball teams in Europe and Australia for the 2014-15 winter season.
The regular season has begun in all the countries in which Stanford alumnae will be playing. Three of the Stanford alumnae will also be playing in EuroLeague Women, the premier international professional basketball league in Europe for women’s clubs. EuroLeague play began yesterday (November 5).
These six Stanford alumnae have played abroad in the past few seasons, but are not playing this season:
Jeanette Pohlen ('11) is rehabbing from the torn Achilles tendon she suffered in May 2014.
Jayne Appel ('10) earned her Master's degree in Business and Management while she was playing pro ball. Her Tweets suggest that she has moved to New York for the winter. Perhaps she is beginning a career associated with her MBA or perhaps she is focussing on being an advocate for equality issues and mental health awareness. At any rate, there has been no report of her signing a contract for the 2014-15 season.
Michelle Harrison ('10) is coaching basketball in Denver, but she no longer plays basketball due to recurring serious knee problems,
Candice Wiggins ('08) is ??? There is no post-WNBA schedule info in Candice's website, so I don't know what she is doing now. She went to Israel to play pro ball in late November last season. She may yet show up overseas in 2014-15, but there has been no report of her signing a contract yet.
Brooke Smith ('07) is studying to be a Physicians Assistant at Stanford.
Nicole Powell ('04) is an assistant coach to Kelly Graves at the University of Oregon.
These are the eleven women that are playing this season:
Schio is in northern Italy, about 60 miles northwest of Venice [map].
Chiney has made a dazzling start in her overseas career! In Schio's first six games of the regular season, she's tallied four double-doubles (22-16, 22-15, 37-13 and 23-13). She's averaging 25.3 points on 72.8% shooting, 12 rebounds, 4.2 steals, 1.8 blocks and 0.7 assists per game. She leads the Italian Serie A1 league in scoring and steals and is second in rebounds and blocks.
Chiney and Kayle got together when Lucca hosted Schio the second game of the season.
Famila Schio is playing in EuroLeague Women for the seventh consecutive season. Its best finish to-date is seventh place. Its first game is today (November 6).
The FIBA EuroLeague Women profile of Famila Schio includes:
Chiney Ogwumike is likely to be the go-to player this season. The number one WNBA draft pick is a dominant force in the frontcourt ...Headline Writer: There is no doubt that Ogwumike is going to be the centrepiece for Schio this season and has already demonstrated this during the first few weeks of the Italian League season. Plus, there is the exciting possibility of her playing against her sister later in the competition who is representing Dynamo Kursk - a headline in itself.
In Just Ten Words: Anything is possible with power of Ogwumike and veteran experience.
Mikaela is the starting power forward for the Flames. In their first four games, she's averaged 10.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists. She hasn't launched any 3-pointers yet, but she's been fouled a lot and has made 68% of her free throws.
Mikaela is enjoying Australia and her new team. She had this to say in an interview on a WNBL (Australian League) radio show:
Q. Was the call to come to Sydney completely cold?If you want to listen to Mikaela, the radio broadcast is here. Mikaela's interview begins at about 04:15.
A. I'm not exactly sure how my agent found it out, but once I realized I had a chance to come, I jumped all over it. I definitely wanted to come to Australia. It's a great country. Everyone speaks English so it made the transition a bit easier. So yeah, it was a no-brainer — easy choice.Q. You and Paris Johnson [San Diego State] are Sydney's imports this year. How is that working out?
A. Paris is awesome. We're roommates. She cooks for me sometimes — she's a good chef. And I love playing with her; we work really well together. So it's been good so far.Q. Is it different playing here?
A. It's a much quicker game here [than in college]. People like shooting 3s and running a lot, so I think it suits my game a little better. College was fun, but I like this. It's more exciting with the quick run and shoot we play here.
Jos is the starting shooting forward for Canik. In their first two games, she's averaged 16.5 points on 67% shooting, and 4.0 rebounds.
This is Sarah's second season with Widzew. She's their starting center. In their first five games, she has led the team in scoring (13.2), rebounding (7.8) and blocks (1.6).
Kursk is in southwestern Russia, about 330 miles south of Moscow [map]
Russia is four games into the regular season. Their season began just over two weeks after the FIBA Women's World Chanmpionship, and Nneka got off to a slow start. But she soon picked up the pace and is currently averaging 18.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. She's the leading scorer in the Russian PBL league.
Dynamo Kursk is playing in EuroLeague Women for the first time. It will play its first game next week.
The FIBA EuroLeague Women profile of Dynamo Kursk includes:
There is excitement with recent USA gold medallist Nnemkadi Ogwumike coming into the power forward slot ...Headline Writer: Ogwumike is back in EuroLeague Women and could be about to remind us all of the great attitude and displays she posted during her first stint when at CCC Polkowice. She has the ability to be a difference-maker and a real consistent threat.
Kayla is the starting power forward for Lucca. After their first five games, she leads the team in scoring (13.8), rebounds (8.2) and blocks (0.6). She has tallied two double-doubles (15-14 and 23-13).
Unfortunately, the team announced on November 2 that Kayla has injured her knee:
The company Basketball Le Mura stated that the response of recent findings that underwent the player Kayla Pedersen showed rupture of the anterior tibial spine consists of the right knee.The injury is not an ACL tear. It's an injury to the area where the ACL attaches to the tibia (read more) and is apparently not season-ending.The recovery time for this type of injury ranging from 4 to 5 weeks. As soon as the knee permits, Kayla will begin rehabilitation under the supervision of medical staff.
Townsville has won its first three games and is leading the WNBL League. Jillian is Townsville's starting shooting forward. She has averaged 6.0 points and 5.3 rebounds.
Marburg is in central Germany, about 60 miles north of Frankfurt [map].
The German regular season began late in September and is about 1/3 of the way through. Cissy starts as shooting guard for Marburg. After seven games, she's averaging 6.4 points and 4.0 rebounds.
This is New's eighth season of playing professional basketball in Turkey. She's still in Istanbul, but after six seasons with Fenerbahce, she's now playing for the University team. Her husband, Emre Vatansever (they married this summer at Stanford) is the assistant coach at Galatasaray, which is also in Istanbul. Universitesi has played two regular season games. New did not play in either one. Seb played in Turkey for three seasons after graduating from Stanford. Then she took four seasons off from basketball to study for her law degree. Since earning her degree, she has chosen basketball over a law career, and has returned to Galatasaray for the third consecutive season. Galatasaray has played two regular season games. Seb only played in the first one, and there's nothing significant to report about her performance. Galatasaray has returned to FIBA EuroLeague Women for the 15th season. It won the championship last season. It played its first game of this season yesterday and lost to BLMA (Montpelier, France) 59-65; Seb did not play. The FIBA EuroLeague Women profile of Galatasaray includes:
Sebnem Kimyacioglu will forever be linked with the historic night in Russia after stepping off the bench to drain two huge triples and she also returns.
She was Tara's first Stanford recruit, has played or coached basketball ever since, and begins her first stint as an NCAA Division I head coach at Boston University this season.
Jacklyn Bamberger (Boston University Daily Free Press) reviews Katy's basketball progress from elementary school to Boston University in: Steding ready to make her mark on BU women’s basketball.
Team USA defeated Spain 77-64 to captured their ninth world championship:
This is Nneka's fourth gold medal with USA Basketball. Previously she won the gold in the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, the 2009 USA U19 World Championship and the 2011 World University Games.
Team USA defeated France 94-72 in the quarterfinals yesterday, defeated Australia 82-70 in the semifinals today, and will compete with Spain in the gold medal game on Sunday.
The gold medal game will be played at 11:15am PT on Sunday. It will be telecast on NBA TV and streamed live on ESPN3.
Click here to see how the USA and Spain match up statistically and other information about the gold medal contenders.
Here's a really nice story about Nneka by Elliott Almond (Mercury News): Nneka Ogwumike showing she belongs on Team USA
And another from USA Basketball about the medal round, which begins tomorrow: USA Enters Medal Round At 2014 FIBA World Championship
The 2014 USA Basketball Women's National team completed its sweep of the FIBA World Championship group round yesterday with a huge win over Angola 119-44.
Team USA rookies (Nneka, Odyssey Sims and Breanna Stewart) came off the bench for lots of playing time, and Nneka took full advantage of the opportunity. She led all scorers with 18 points on seven of eight field goals and grabbed the most rebounds (10).
For more about the game, see:
By virtue of its performance in group play, Team USA gets two days of rest before playing France in its quarterfinal game on Friday.
All the quarterfinal, semifinal and final games will be broadcast (live-streamed) on ESPN3. Click here for the schedule.
The USA Women's National Basketball team began its quest for the FIBA World Championship yesterday with an 87-56 win over China.
Nneka did not play a big role in the game. She scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds in 17 minutes of play.
Read more about the game here:
Team USA continues group play with games against Serbia today and Angola on Tuesday, both at 11:30 am PT.
After the group round, the top team in each of the four groups advances to the quarterfinals. The second and third place teams complete for a spot in the quarterfinals on Wednesday 1 October.
The quarterfinals will be played on Friday 3 October, the semifinals on Saturday 4 October and the finals on Sunday 5 October.
Although the FIBA website says, "Watch all of the action on LiveBasketball.TV!", don't bother buying a subscription. Some games can't be viewed in some countries, and all of the games in which Team USA has, will, or may play are blocked from being shown in the USA.
The best you can do to keep track of things is follow the live stats provided by FIBA. There are links to stats for each game at the top of the FIBA World Championship website home page.
The FIBA Calendar gives the option of showing game times in your local time — very handy for the time-zone-conversion challenged.
Nneka's hard work has paid off. She is a member of the 2014 USA World Championship Team, which was finalized today.
This is the USA Basketball announcement.
This is Nneka's USA Basketball bio.
Nneka worked really hard this morning to help Team USA defeat the Czech Republic 76-41 in their final exhibition game before the world championship. She scored 12 points and grabbed the team-high 10 rebounds.
This is the game recap.
... and Nneka is one of them!
The 13 include the 11 who played against France yesterday, Jantel Lavender and Brittney Griner, who is expected to join the others in Istanbul on Wednesday. One more player will be cut from the roster before the FIBA World Championship begins.
Read all about the final selection in the USA Basketball announcement.
Sandrine Gruda had 26 points and 15 rebounds to help France stun the U.S. women's national team 76-72 in an exhibition game on Sunday.It's the first loss by the Americans in an international game since falling to a team from the Czech Republic in 2011 when the U.S. was on a European tour.
The Americans, who beat the French in the gold medal game at the Olympics in 2012, had a 12-point halftime lead and were up 60-52 with 6:39 left in the game before the hosts rallied. France led 71-67 with 27 seconds left after Celine Dumerc hit a jumper. Maya Moore made a 3-pointer 7 seconds later to make it a one-point game.
After the teams exchanged free throws, Dumerc made the first of two from the foul line before corralling her own miss with nine seconds left to seal the win.
Team USA fielded only eleven players today — Skylar Diggins, Stefanie Dolson, Jantel Lavendar and Kayla McBride did not play. I have no idea if this is indicative of the final selection. There is no news yet of Brittney Griner.
For more about today's game, see the USA BB game recap and the FIBA live statistics.
Team USA will now head to Prague for a final exhibition game against Czech Republic on Sept. 23 at 10:00 am PT, before traveling to Istanbul for their final pre-World Championship preparations.
The FIBA World Championship games will begin on Saturday Sept. 27 with three rounds of intra-group competition. The USA is grouped with China, Serbia and Angola.
The 2014 USA Basketball Women’s National Team took a double-digit lead over China six minutes into the first quarter and pulled away to a 51-24 halftime advantage before easing up in the second half for a 99-75 victory.
Nneka had her third straight strong exhibition game for Team USA. She scored the team-high sixteen points on seven of eight field goals and again had the highest efficiency ranking of the day.
Here is the game recap from USA Basketball and live stats from FIBA that include the box score and play-by-play.
Team USA will play its third exhibition game in Paris against the host team, France, tomorrow (Sunday, September 21) at 8am PT. USA Basketball will tweet game updates and the link to live online stats.
The USA and China will meet again in group play at the FIBA world championship in Turkey next Saturday.
The USA Women's National Basketball team won its first foreign exhibition game today in Paris over the Australia National team, 72-66.
The game was a balanced effort by the USA as head coach Geno Auriemma continues to focus on putting a team together.
Here's the complete game recap from USA BB.
When asked who stood out for him today, Geno's response included, "Nneka gave us some great minutes."
There are currently 15 players on the USA roster. Brittney Griner will likely join the squad next week if she recovers from the retinal injury she suffered in the WNBA finals. The USA BB Selection Committee will announce the final 12 next week.
The team will continue its preparation for the FIBA World Championship with another exhibition game tomorrow (Saturday, Sep 20) at 7am PT against China. The game will not be broadcast on TV or online, but you may be able to follow the action on FIBA Live Stats. I can't find a link to tomorrow's game, but it may be tweeted by USA Basketball once the game has started, as it was today.
USA Basketball has reduced their roster by 4 players after their first training camp.
The four are guards Bria Hartley, Briann January and Danielle Robinson and power forward Chiney Ogwumike.
The remaining 13 will play Canada on Monday in a televised game (at 4:00 PT on ESPN2) after beating them 75-52 in a scrimmage on Sunday.
Then they'll travel to Paris to compete in the Sept. 19-21 France International Tournament. They'll be joined by some or all of the seven 2014-16 USA Basketball Women’s National Team members that were competing the the WNBA finals.
From Paris, the Americans will head to Prague for an exhibition against Czech Republic on Sept. 23, before traveling to Istanbul for their final pre-World Championship preparations.
Read more: USA Basketball Women’s National Team Roster Set For Exhibition Versus Canada
Nneka played a great game in the USA Basketball Showcase last night. She led all scorers with 26 points on 13 of 15 field goal attempts, grabbed the most rebounds (12), and played the second-most minutes (just 20 seconds less than Maya Moore).
It wasn't quite enough to lead her red squad to victory — the white squad won the scrimmage 95-87.
But it earned her some high praise from head coach Geno Auriemma, who was a spectator at the game.
After the game, he commented on how the young guys have looked compared to the returning Olympians:
When we had this training camp in Las Vegas (in Oct. 2013), none of the Olympians participated, so all the young guys looked really good. And we all went away from there going ‘wow. We have some great young players, you should see these guys, they’re really, really good.’Then, when the Olympians came back and we put them on the floor with the young guys, all of a sudden the young guys didn’t look so good. There’s a real gap between some of the players that have won two or three Olympic gold medals and the young guys that are trying to make the team. There’s a gap there.
But, having said that, there’s an athletic ability. There’s a youthful kind of hunger to play and somebody like Nneka (Ogwumike) who has not ever played on the national team, she did things today that makes you appreciate who she is and what she is.
Chiney was one of five red squad players who scored in double digits. She scored 12 points on six of eight field goal attempts and grabbed five rebounds in just 17 minutes of playing time.
Click here for a full report from USA Basketball, including links to the box score, a photo gallery, the post-game quotes and several video clips
The team has now travelled to Connecticut for more practice, a day off on Saturday, and practice again on Sunday in preparation for a game vs USA Canada on Monday at 4:00 PT. The game will be shown on ESPN2.
If Phoenix closes out the WNBA finals with a win tonight or Sunday, the remaining seven contenders for a spot on the USA National Team (DeWanna Bonner, Elena Delle Donne, Candice Dupree, Sylvia Fowles, Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi and Courtney Vandersloot) may join the others in Connecticut.
On Monday, Nneka and Chiney joined 15 of their peers in Annapolis, Maryland for the 2014 USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp.
They were excited to have the opportunity to compete for the chance to make the National team and to play together for the first time since their college days at Stanford.
Seven more women will join the training camp after the WNBA playoffs are completed. Coach Geno Auriemma commented on the depth of talent and how difficult it will be to whittle down to 12 players: Tough Decisions Loom In the USA Women’s World Championship Team Selection Process.
The practice sessions were very competitive, with everyone trying their best to make the cut (view gallery):
On Tuesday evening the team participated in a Hoops For Troops basketball clinic for children of military families on campus at the U.S. Naval Academy: National Team Members Teach Skills to Annapolis Youth
After the third practice session on Wednesday, the USA National Team was introduced to the Naval Academy’s women’s basketball team (view gallery):
Then the USA National Team watched an amazing display of teamwork as 4,000 Naval Academy midshipmen marched into place for the noon meal formation: Representing the United States of America in Different, Yet Similar Ways.
Now the 2014 USA Basketball Women’s National Team members have been split into two groups that will play each other in the USA Basketball Showcase, which will be shown on ESPN2 on Thursday, September 11 at 4:00 PT: USA Squads Set For Intrasquad Game With USA Basketball Women’s National Team Showcase
Chiney has been named as one of the top 30 honorees — ten women from each of the three divisions, spanning various NCAA sports.
Read more here:
The NCAA announcement, which lists the top 30 honorees.
The Stanford Athletics announcement, which reports the achievements for which Chiney earned the nomination.
Here's the Associated Press report: Chiney Ogwumike is rookie of the year
And here's a nice story about Chiney and Nneka by Aaron Fischman (Swish Appeal), written recently in anticipation of Chiney's winning the award: Chiney Ogwumike's winning character shaped by relationship with sister Nneka
Read more in the USA Basketball announcement.
Jake Curtis (examiner.com) reports which Stanford alumnae are likely to participate in postseason play in: Five former Stanford players trying to make WNBA playoffs
There are actually six former Cardinal in the mix. Curtis omitted Candice Wiggins, who will be playing in the postseason with the Los Angeles Sparks. Candice missed eight weeks of play after having meniscus repair surgery early in the season. Since then she has played about 15 minutes per game and averaged 1.6 points, 0.9 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.2 rebounds.
But the Sparks surged ahead in the 3rd quarter and outscored the Sun 30-10. The game ended with a big 90-64 win for the Sparks.
Both sisters had excellent games. Nneka was the Sparks' leading scorer with 24 points. She also tallied an assist, seven rebounds, two steals and a block. Chiney led the Sun in scoring (18) and rebounding (six, all offensive) and stole the ball twice.
Kayla came off the bench for the Sun for 15 minutes, during which she tallied four points and a rebound.
Candice, who is recovering from knee surgery (meniscus repair), played for 14 minutes for the Sparks, but did not score.
Here are:
Sunday in Connecticut, Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike will square off as foes for the first time in their WNBA careers. They really don't look forward to it, although they're as upbeat as ever in talking about it.Click here for the story.
Nneka and Chiney, teammates in high school and college, will play against each other for the first time on Sunday when Nneka's Los Angeles Sparks visit Chiney's Connecticut Sun.
Kayla Pedersen, who plays for the Sun, and Candice Wiggins, who plays for the Sparks, may also be called in from the bendh.
The game is scheduled for Sunday July 13 at 10 am PT. It will be televised by NBATV and streamed to the internet by WNBA LiveAccess.
