Alumnae Abroad, 2010-11 Season-end Report

Nicole Powell, Wisla Can-Pak

Wisla dominated the Polish League (PLKK) this season. They were the regular season champion with a 22-2 win-loss record and the PLKK Tournament champion.

Wisla played in Euroleague this season. They placed second in their group (7-3) in the qualifying rounds, defeated Nadezhda in the eighth-final round, but lost to Halcon-Avenida (who subsequently captured the title) in the quarter-finals.

Nicole averaged 9.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.0 steals (ninth-best in the league) in the Polish league games. She averaged 13.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals in the Euroleague games.

She received honorable mention for the All-Polish PLKK team.

Kristen Newlin, Fenerbahce

Fenerbache finished second in their league (TKBL) with a 20-2 win-loss record. They won the TKBL championship for the sixth consecutive season. See this post for more about the championship game.

Fenerbahce played in Euroleague this season. They were perfect (10-0) in the qualifying rounds, defeated Galatasary (their Turkish arch-rival) in the eighth-final round, but lost to Sparta&K in the quarter-finals.

Kristen ruptured her plantar fascia late last season. Her primary goal for this season was to be healthy. She has been healthy enough to play in every game this season.

She played, on average, about 17 minutes in the Turkish league games, during which she averaged 7.0 points and 4.4 rebounds. In the Euroleague games, she averaged 8.2 minutes, 2.3 points and 1.3 rebounds.

Brooke Smith, Tarbes

Tarbes finished third in their league (LFB) with an 18-8 win-loss record. They lost to Bourges, the #1 seed, in the finals of the LFB playoffs.

Tarbes played in Euroleague this season. They placed sixth in their group (3-7) in the qualifying rounds, so did not advance.

Brooke averaged 9.9 points and 5.7 rebounds in the French league games.. She averaged 7.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in the Euroleague games.

She received honorable mention for the All-French LFB team.

Jillian Harmon, Comense

Comense finished sixth in their league (Italy A1) with an 11-11 win-loss record. They lost to Bracco Geas, the #3 seed, in the quarter-final round of the league playoffs.

Jillian made just over half of her field-goal attempts this season and was Comense's third-best scorer with 9.3 points per game. She was the second-best rebounder with 5.6 per game.

Cori Enghusen, Mersin

Mersin finished eighth in their league (TKBL) with an 8-14 win-loss record. They lost to Galatasaray, the #1 seed, in the quarter-final round of the TKBL playoffs.

At 31, Cori is the oldest player on her team, but she still plays about 16 minutes per game. She averaged 3.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game this season.

Cissy Pierce, Rhein Main Baskets

Rhein MB finished ninth in their league (DBBL) with a 7-15 win-loss record. They did not qualify for the DBBL playoffs.

Cissy was Rhein's top player. She led the team in almost all categories — points (14.5), rebounds (6.2), assists (2.1) and steals (1.9).

Kayla connections

Kayla has signed with the Tulsa Shock.

The Tulsa Shock was formerly the Detroit Shock.

Detroit is in Michigan.

So is Flint.

Kayla was born in Flint.

Eric Woodward has followed this train of thought to a very nice story about Kayla published in the Flint Journal.

Candice and Jayne will attend USA Basketball National Team training camp

Candice and Jayne are two of the twenty-two members of the 2009-12 USA Basketball Women’s National Team who will attend the USA National Team’s May 10-12 training camp in Las Vegas. Read more...

Fenerbahce is Turkish League champion again

Fenerbahce won its sixth consecutive Turkish League championship today.

Kristen tweets:

CHAMPS.....again. Winning in overtime in front of awesome, awesome fans feels sooooo good! Loving this feeling!

Pat Newlin (Kristen's mother) writes:

Just to let you all know Kristen and her Fenerbache team are celebrating today in Istanbul after an overtime win against their arch rival, Galatarsaray. Fener won 91 - 86 after tying in regulation play at 75 all in front of their home crowd. Fener won in four games (3 - 1) in the best of five series. If Fener lost today they would have had to play the last game at Gala's gym. Kristen did not want to have to do that!

Fener has now won the last three Turkish Championships [Fenerbahce website says six]. Kristen has been there for all three. These championship games have all been between Fenerbahce and Galatarsary. Kristen has several good friends on the Gala team because they play with her on the Turkish National Team.

Wish we were there to see it live but we were able to follow over the internet on Fenerbahce TV Online for live tv coverage. It was fun to be able to see the celebration at the end. Kristen said the last two championships before this one were not in their home gym so it was especially sweet this time. In this last game, Kristen had 6 pts., 3 rebs., 2 steals in 16 minutes of play. You can check out all the scores and stats on the Turkish League website. If you would like to email Kristen: knewlin43@gmail.com.

Next up for Kristen is a brief vacation where she leaves the 21st for Cape Town, South Africa, with a teammate from her Turkish National team. The Turkish National Team practice begins early May in preparation for June's European Championships in Poland. Mick and I are planning on being there for those.

2011 postgame celebration (screen grab from fbtvonline) 2010 Champions (when Kristin was injured and did not play) 2009 Champions (when Nicole Powell was also on the team)

Ros inducted into the GCHSAA Hall of Fame

Ros was an outstanding basketball player at Archbishop Molloy High School in New York before continuing her career at Stanford. In recognition of her accomplishments she has been inducted into the Girl's Catholic High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. She is Molloy's first basketball player to receive that honor. Read more...

Jeanette & Kayla draft day videos

Interview with Jeanette for the Indiana Fever.

Lin Dunn (Indiana Fever head coach) talks about Jeanette.

Sarah Spain (espnW) chats with Kayla after the draft.

Kayla and Jeanette taken in first round of 2011 WNBA draft

Kayla and Jeanette were both among the first 10 picks of the WNBA draft — and they have the same number!

Kayla was taken by the Tulsa Shock as the seventh overall pick. Here is a report of her selection from the Tulsa Shock website.

Jeanette was taken by the Indiana Fever with the ninth overall pick. Here is information about Jeanette from the Indiana Fever website.

There were two other prospects from the West Coast:

• Courtney Vandersloot (Gonzaga) was taken by the Chicago Sky with the third overall pick
• Ify Ibekwe (Arizona) was taken by the Seattle Storm in the second round with the 24th pick.

This is the complete draft board.

The current status of other Cardinal alumnae in the WNBA:

• Jayne Appel returns to the San Antonio Silver Stars for her second season.
• Candice Wiggins returns to the Minnesota Lynx for her fourth season.
• Nicole Powell returns to the New York Liberty for the second season, her eighth in the WNBA.
• Brooke Smith was waived by the Phoenix Mercury in March.

WNBA Prospect Capsule: Kayla & Jeanette

Swish Appeal is providing information, quotes and audio clips on WNBA Draft 2011 prospects.

They profile Kayla and Jeanette together because, "It just didn't seem right to separate the two Stanford seniors that came in together, made historic runs through the Pac 10, made four Final Fours together, and are entering the WNBA together. " Read more...

Kayla and Jeanette invited to WNBA draft

Fifteen of the world’s top female basketball prospects have been invited to the 2011 WNBA Draft , which will be held on Monday, April 11 at ESPN in Bristol, Conn. Kayla and Jeanette are two of the prospects. Read more...

Kayla tweets, "In CT for the draft! It's gonna be fun!"

Jeanette tweets, "Packed and ready to go. Feelin great! :)"

Spring basketball in Europe

Nicole blogs about spring basketball in Europe:

It’s that time of year again when the fresh air of spring meets hoops.

A sport that started in the fall and endured a winter now sees light, instead of dark flooding through its gymnasium windows, and every game played is suddenly the biggest game of the year. Read more...