Minnesota Lynx guard Candice Wiggins always has been upbeat, but her enthusiasm is in overdrive this offseason in the wake of rehabilitation for a torn Achilles' tendon in her left leg that forced her to miss the last 20 games of last season.
Wiggins, who turned 24 on Valentine's Day, reflects on her rehabilitation and her excitement for the 2011 season. Read more...
Nicole Powell, Wisla Can-Pack
Wisla is playing in Euroleague this season as well as in the Polish PLKK league.
Wisla has advanced to the Euroleague quarter-finals, which will be played late in February. It placed second in its group with a 7-3 win-loss record in the qualifying rounds, then swept the eighth-finals (16 teams) 2-0. Nicole, who did not join the team until early January, played only in the last four games. She's averaging 15.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
Wisla leads the PLKK league with an 18-1 win-loss record. Nicole is one of the starting five and is averaging 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 3.0 steals.
Brooke Smith, Tarbes
Brooke began the season with Italian team Taranto, but transferred to Tarbes (which is in southern France near the Pyrenees) in December when the head coach from Tarbes decided that he needed more presence in the paint.
Tarbes is playing in Euroleague this season as well as in the French LFB league.
Tarbes went 3-7 in the Euroleague qualifying rounds and is out of the competition. Brooke averaged 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds. She had two double-doubles and ranked #8 in 2-pt field goal percentage (55.7%).
Tarbes is #2 of 14 in the LFB with an 11-3 win-loss record. Brooke comes off the bench and plays almost 20 minutes per game. She is averaging 6.5 points and 1.8 rebounds
Kristen Newlin, Fenerbahce
Fenerbahce is playing in Euroleague this season as well as in the Turkish TKBL league.
In spite of losing Diana Taurasi early in January, Fenerbahce has advanced to the Euroleague quarter-finals with a perfect record. It won all ten qualifying round games and swept its Turkish rival Galatasaray in the eighth-finals. Kristen has played about nine minutes per game and is averaging 2.6 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.4 assists.
Fenerbahce is tied with Galatasary for #1 of 12 in the TBBL league, with 15-1 win-loss records. Kristen is playing about 15 minutes in the TKBL games and averaging 6.8 points and 3.6 rebounds
Cori Enghusen, Mersin
Mersin is in the Turkish TKBL league too. It ranks seventh of 12 in the league with a 7-9 record.
Cori plays about 15 minutes per game and averages 3.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.5 blocks.
Jillian Harmon, Comense
Comense's win-loss record is 7-9. It ranks seventh of 12 in the Italy A-1 League.
Jillian comes off the bench for about 25 minutes per game. She is second on the team in points (10.0) and rebounds (5.3) per game.
Cissy Pierce, Rhein-Main Baskets
Rhein-Main Baskets' win-loss record is 5-12. It ranks 10th of 12 in the German DBBL League.
Cissy is in the starting five. She leads the team in points per game (13.7) and is second in rebounds (6.5).
She sank a long-g-g-g winning three at the buzzer last week. This is the second time this season that she's done that.
Cissy is number 8 in black. Notice the player on the opposing team who just falls to the floor in disbelief!
Molly Goodenbour, in her third season as head coach at UC Irvine, has brought the Anteaters from a 7-23 win-loss record to 13-9, their first time in double-digit victories in eight seasons.
But the Anteaters have been painfully inconsistent, and Goodenbour is using stern measures to get her team to play with urgency for the remaining half of their conference season. Read more...
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Candice is going to lead an 8-day tour of Spain in October whose aim is to bring women’s basketball fans in America to the world of European basketball. Read more...
Lindsey Yamasaki is in her third season as the women's basketball head coach at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, which is is in the process of becoming an NCAA Division II member institution.
Josh Flynn (SLAM) writes about Lindsey's path from Stanford to the Academy of Art.
After two losing seasons, Lindsey feels the Urban Knights are about to turn a corner. “I feel it coming,” she says. “I don’t know if it will be a slew of wins or just a couple but I think we’re getting there.” Read more...
(They're not quite there yet. They lost to USF tonight, 85-57.)
Ron Kroichick (San Francisco Chronicle) writes about how life has changed for Candice this fall. ... here
BringChange2Mind is a not-for-profit organization whose goal is to get rid of stigmas associated with mental illness. Jayne has joined that effort with her account of Family and Mental Illness.
Nicole knows that she will be making a big career change in the next few years. She and several other WNBA players are preparing for life after basketball by interning in an executive development program. Read more...
