Candice nears league championship in Spain

Candice joined Ros Casares-Valencia of the Liga Feminina (Spanish women's basketball league) in January after recovering from knee surgery. She has averaged 19 minutes and 8.6 points per game as Ros Casares led the league with a 25-1 record. Now Ros Carares is within one victory of its third straight league championship. In best-of-three series, they won the semifinals in two games and today defeated Perfumeria Avenida 96-56 in the first game of the finals. Candice averaged 11.7 points in those three playoff games. The second game is on Friday in Salamanca and the third game, if required, on Sunday in Valencia. Candice is scheduled to rejoin the Minnesota Lynx after her season in Spain is complete. The Lynx's first (and only) exhibition game is May 23.

Cissy celebrates league championship

Cissy and her  teammates  celebrate the victory that earned them the Southern Germany League championship. Rhein-Main Baskets won the best-of-three league championship series against KuSG Leimen, who had led the league all season. 

That's Cissy (#15) on the left. Google translates the headline to "Radiant Joy Winners".

Cissy has played a leading role in the team's success.  She had 20 points (including two 3-pointers), eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and two blocks in the final game. She scored her fifth consecutive double-double in the first game of the series.

Krista Rappahahn honored for high school accomplishments

Cardinal fans have known Krista Rappahahn as an outstanding student athlete during her four years at Stanford and in the three years since then. It's no surprise to discover that she was also an outstanding student athlete before that at the Norwich Free Academy in Connecticut, where she:

• Averaged 23.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 3.0 assists as a senior and finished as NFA's leading scorer (male or female) with 2,048 points.
• Led the team to a 106-2 record,  three state championships and four Eastern  Connecticut Conference titles.
• Was second in her class, took all advanced placement courses and earned a 4.317 grade point average

In 2002 the Hartford Courant selected her as the "Best of the Best" in girls basketball and reported some of the accomplishments that made the label a perfect fit. Read more... It was announced recently that "Krista Rappahahn - High School Player" is to be inducted into the Connecticut Basketball Hall of Fame for her contributions to the enhancement of women's basketball in Connecticut. Read more...

Jamie Carey retires

Jamie Carey, one of the all-time "if only ..." players in the heart of Cardinal fans, has retired from professional basketball. Read more...

WNBA 2009

Jillian was not selected in the WNBA 2009 draft. 

There were five other prospects from the Pac-10:

• Briann January (Arizona State) was selected in the first round by the Indiana Fever.
• Ashley Walker (California) was selected in the first round by the Seattle Storm.
• Camille LeNoir (USC) was selected in the second round by the Washington Mystics.
• Sybil Dosty (Arizona State) and Devanei Hampton (California)  were not selected.

This is the complete draft board.

The current status of other Cardinal alumnae in the WNBA:

• Candice Wiggins returns to the Minnesota Lynx for her second season.
• Brooke Smith has a training-camp contract with the Phoenix Mercury, where she played last season.
• Nicole Powell returns to the Sacramento Monarchs for her sixth season in the WNBA, her fifth with the Monarchs.

Cissy in the pros

Cissy is playing professional basketball for Rhein-Main Baskets, a professional team located in Langen Germany, about 25 km south of Frankfurt. She uses her real name Alissa instead of her nickname Cissy.

She is a key member of  the team. In their last five games she averaged 19.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. She scored double-doubles in the last three games — 18/16, 22/10 and 18/11. Overall she is making 59% of her field goal attempts and 22% of her 3-pointers.

This quote (awkwardly translated by Google) sounds just like the Cissy we knew at Stanford , "In the athletic activities of Cissy Pierce was a murmur through the audience. [head coach] Deetjen was also impressed by the newcomer."

Candice's observations about the NCAA Tournament

The photo is of Candice and Tara in the last minute of last season's NCAA semifinal game between Stanford and UConn. Today the San Francisco Chronicle published a special report from Candice with her observations about this season's NCAA Tournament. She predicts that Stanford will get to St. Louis for the semifinal game against UConn and ... (Read more...)

No Final Four

... for Ros Casares or Candice this season. They couldn't hang in against the two-time defending champion on its home court — not with Sylvia Fowles scoring 23 points and pulling down 13 rebounds and Diana Taurasi scoring 22 and Sue Bird 15 and Lauren Jackson 12 and ...

Spartak won 79-70 and advances to the Euroleague Final Four. That made them very happy. Here's the Game Card: Game report, box score, play-by-play and photo gallery.

Another Final Four for Candice?

European Women's basketball teams have been competing in the Euroleague quarterfinals, which are best two-out-of-three contests. Ros Casares (Candice's team) are playing against two-time defending champion Spartak, the Russian team that starts Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Lauren Jackson and Sylvia Fowles.

Spartak won the first game and Ros Casares won the second one.  Candice has taken a back seat to her more experienced colleagues, but contributes valuable time off the bench. The teams meet again in Moscow on Wednesday night, Feb 25th, to determine which advances to the Final Four. The Final Four games will be played on April 3rd and 5th.

Fenerbahce, the team on which Kristen and Nicole play, also made it to the quarterfinals playing against UMMC, a Russian team from Ekaterinburg. New (whose Turkish name is Nevin Nevlin) was the top performer in the first game with 23 points and seven rebounds, but Fenerbahce was trounced by UMMC. UMMC scraped out a win in the final seconds of the second game, so Fenerbahce is out of the competition.

New writes about those two games and more in the most recent post to her blog.

Happy Birthday, Candice!

Today, Valentine's Day, is Candice's 22nd birthday. LynxBasketball took the occasion to call Candice and ask about her birthday and Valentine's Day plans, her time in Spain and what she thinks of her new teammates. Read more...