There was little surprise to see Nnemkadi Ogwumike once more hogging the headlines with another scintillating experience.
Individual performance of the week: There is no looking past Dynamo Kursk forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike as the popular choice for her fantastic double-double against Schio of 27 points and 16 rebounds. It was also the highest individual score of the season so far.
Five of the eight Stanford alumnae playing abroad were ranked in the top ten performers of their league last week by Eurobasket.com (which ranks players based on an efficiency calculation).
In Russia
25-year old power forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike (189-F/C-90) had a great game in the last round for league's best team Dynamo Kursk and receives a Eurobasket.com Player of the Week award for Round 4.
She had a double-double of 29 points and 16 rebounds, while her team edged out Sparta&K MR (#7, 2-2) 65-61. It allowed Dynamo K. to take over top position in the Russian PBL. They maintain perfect record without any lost game in the league. The season is still on an early stage, but Dynamo K. already had a very good start winning all 4 without losing a single one.
Ogwumike turned to be Dynamo K.'s top player in her first season with the team. Stanford University graduate has very impressive stats this year. Ogwumike is in league's top in points (3rd best: 19.3ppg) and averages solid 2.3spg and 69.2% FGP.
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Ninth on the list of top players was Sarah Boothe (195-F/C-90) of Kazanochka - 11 points, 15 rebounds and 4 assists.
In Italy
Third on the list of top players last round was American guard Jillian Harmon (185-G-87, agency: Players Group) of league's second-best Lucca.
Harmon scored 27 points and grabbed six rebounds. She was a key player of Lucca, leading her team to a 85-59 easy win against Vigarano (#14, 0-3).
Lucca started extremely well this year. They recorded 3 victories without losing a single game.
Harmon turns to be one of the very best players in the league while she is also a leader of the top team having her eyes on the championship title. Harmon has a great season in Italy. After only 3 games, she made it on the list of the league's leaders in points with 22.7ppg (2nd best).
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Seventh on the list of top players was Kayla Pedersen (193-F-89) of Lucca - 14 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists
In Australia
Fifth on the list of top players was Mikaela Ruef (190-F-90) of Adelaide - 19 points, 18 rebounds and 4 assists
Joslyn Tinkle didn't make the top ten, but she has scored in double digits in each of the first four rounds of the season.
Eight Stanford alumnae have signed contracts with professional basketball teams in Europe and Australia for the 2015-16 winter season, which began a couple of weeks ago.
These seven Stanford alumnae have played abroad recently, but aren't playing this season:
Cori Enghusen ('02) has ended the longest pro basketball career of any Stanford alumna (13 seasons) and begun her career in the business world as a Digital Solutions Manager at CDK Digital Marketing in Seattle.
Sebnem Kimyacioglu ('05), who played pro ball for six seasons in Turkey, during which she took three seasons off to earn her law degree at Santa Clara University, has hung up her sneakers and is about to begin her legal career. Sebnem is currently looking for corporate transactional work in Los Angeles.
Alissa (Cissy) Pierce ('08) may have retired from basketball. She is still living in Germany, but has not signed with any professional basketball club.
Jayne Appel ('10) is an intern in the Sports Information Department at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, New York, as she was last winter.
Chiney Ogwumike ('14), who spent the summer season recovering from microfracture knee surgery, is not playing basketball this winter, but she's not lacking for things to do. This week she's in Brazil with Jason Collins as part of U.S. State Department Sports Envoys program (story).
Candice Wiggins('08) andJeanette Pohlen ('11) aren't playing winter ball, but I don't know their plans for the offseason.
These are the women who are playing aboad this season:
Vigarano is in northeastern Italy, about 75 miles south of Venice [map]
Vigarano, which finished in the bottom third of the Italian A1 league last season, hired Amber as, "... a smart player, who can raise the level of her companions."
Amber has already shown her versatility on the court. In her first pro game, she missed all six of her shots, but tallied three rebounds, two assists and a steal. She found the basket (four of five times from beyond the arc) in her second game and led her team in scoring with 14 points.
Adelaide is on the southern Australia coast, about 750 miles west of Sydney, where Mikaela played last season [map].
Mikaela was named the SEABL (South Eastern Australia Basketball League) Defensive Player of the Year of the 2015 summer season, averaging 14.7 rebounds a game for Launceston, with 28 more defensive boards than the next best and with four games where she hauled down more than 20.
"I have had only glowing reports of Mikaela as a person and her work ethic, and she has a versatility with her game that will be an asset to our program," said Lightning head coach Tracy York.
In her first two games with the Lightning, Mikaela is living up to expectations with an average of 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
Sydney is on the southeast coast of Australia [map].
Coach Shannon Seebohm believes Tinkle will be a brilliant addition to the team. “Joslyn’s versatility suits our style of play very well since she can score from both in the paint and from the perimeter. She is also going to add great game experience to the team with her time spent playing in some of the best leagues in Europe. We are very excited to have her join the Flames for next season,” he said.
Jos began her season down under with a double-double (14 pts, 11 rbs). In her first three games with the Flames, she's averaging 14.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. A third of her shots have been from beyond the arc, from where she's made three of ten.
In the second round of the Australian season, the Flames played the Lightning in Adelaide and won 107-60. Jos and Mikaela each scored 18 points. Jos tweeted, "We may be playing against each other these days, but we are teammates forever."
Kazan is the eighth most populous city in Russia. It lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers, about 500 miles east of Moscow [map].
Sarah starts at the center for Kazanochka and is averaging 7.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in the first three games of the season.
Kursk is in southwestern Russia, about 330 miles south of Moscow [map]
Kursk has won its first three games of the season. Nneka is the leading scorer with an average of 18.5 points per game. She's made 78.6% of her shots.
Kursk is the only "Stanford alumnae team" that's playing in EuroLeague Women this season.
Kursk cruised past Fenerbahce 72-40 in their Euroleague Women opener. FIBA journalist Paul Nilsen awarded Nneka "Game Hero" status, saying,
"Ogwumike has picked up right where she left off last season. The competition's top scorer last time around went for 22 points off 9-of-13 shooting in this one with 11 of those points coming during the decisive sequence [a 21-2 run] soon after half-time."
Lucca is in northwestern Italy, just 11 miles from Pisa [map].
Lucca has won their first three games of the season with Kayla starting at the center and playing 30 minutes per game. She has averaged 17.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.3 blocks.
(This is the first time that Stanford alumnae have played on the same international team since Kate Starbird and Jamila Wideman played together in Spain: Letter home from Kate)
Jillian is Lucca's starting shooting guard. In their first three games, she leads the team in playing time (34 min) and scoring (22.7 points).
This is New's ninth season of playing professional basketball in Turkey, her first with Gelistirenler,which was recently promoted to Superleague, the premier Turkish professional basketball league. Her husband, Emre Vatansever, is the assistant coach at Galatasaray, which is also in Istanbul.
Gelistirenler has played just one game this season; New did not play.
Nicole Powell ('04) was inducted into the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame last night.
Nicole Powell Hall of Fame Induction SpeechForegone conclusion that this would one day happen. Last night, Nicole Powell was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame »
Posted by Stanford Women's Basketball on Saturday, October 17, 2015
