The 2009-2010 season is well underway for women's professional basketball teams in Europe. Here is a report of the eight Stanford alumnae that are playing abroad this season.
Cissy Pierce ('08) is in Germany playing for Rhein-Main Baskets for the second season. She led her team to the Southern Germany League Championship last season.
This season they're currently 11th (of 12) in the league with a 2-7 record, but Cissy is having another excellent season. She is the second-best scorer in the league and the top scorer on her team. She averages 20.3 points per game, close to twice as many as anyone else. She also contributes 6.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.
Her name appears in almost every Rhein-Main Baskets game report, " ... led her team ... has long set the tone ... kept her team in the game ... makes every game well worth seeing ..."
Reports of their last five games are posted on the Rhein-Main Baskets website.
Candice Wiggins ('08) is in Greece, playing for Sony Athinaikos, which is #1 in their league with a 7-0 record. The team has also played three games in the EuroCup qualifying round and won two of them. They will play three more EuroCup games in December, after which the top two (of four) teams in each group will advance to the sixteenth-finals round.
Athinaikos does not post player statistics for the Greece League games. In the EuroCup games, Candice is in the starting five and plays almost 30 minutes a game. She is the team's leading scorer with 17.7 points per game. She is making 48.1% of her shots, 33.3% beyond the arc and 92.3% of her free throws.
(The photo of Candice is from last year when she was playing for Ros Casares. I could find no current photo of her.)
Jillian Harmon ('09) is playing in Italy for Comense in her first season of professional basketball. The team isn't doing very well. They're 11th of 12 in their league with two wins and six losses.
Jillian is doing well as a rookie. She has started a couple of games, but usually comes off the bench. She averages 10.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game.
Brooke Smith ('07) is playing for Comense for the second season. She is in the starting five and one of their top players. At 6'3", she's the tallest player on the team. She averages 15.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, one block and 3.3 steals per game. She has had two double-doubles.
She has the second most rebounds, fourth most blocks and ninth most points per game in the Italy A1 League
There are more photos of Brooke and Jillian in action on the Comense website.
Kristen Newlin ('07) is playing for Fenerbahce again this season. Fenerbahce was the champion of their Turkish league (TBBL) last season and also played in EuroLeague, where they made it to the quarterfinals.
They're playing in both leagues again this season and have made a strong start — #1 with a 5-0 record in the Turkish league and #3 in their EuroLeague group with a 3-2 record.
Kristen, who is known as Nevin Kristen Nevlin in Turkey, is a leading member of her team and one of the starting five. Her EuroLeague bio describes her as a very good mid-range shooter and a good rebounder in the low post. She averages 10.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 60.0 FG% in the EuroLeague games and 12.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 66.7 FG% in the Turkish League games. She scores from beyond the arc occasionally— one of seven in EuroLeague and two of two in TBBL.
Nicole Powell ('04) is also playing for Fenerbahce again this season. She played for them last season and in 2005-06.
She is in the starting five and described in her EuroLeague bio as one of the top outside shooters. In this season's EuroLeague games, she averages 16.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.6 steals. She is making 45.7% of her field goals and 54.2% of her 3-pointers.
In the TBBL games, she averages 11.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals. She is making 52.2% of her field goals and 50.0% of her 3-pointers.
Olympia Scott ('98) is playing for Mersin for the second season, her 11th of professional basketball.
Mersin is a member of the TBBL, the same Turkish League as Fenerbahce. They are #2 in the league with a 5-1 record. Their one loss was to Fenerbahce. In that game, Olympia was Mersin's top scorer with 17 points and five rebounds.
Olympia is now in her mid-thirties, and you might think that she'd be slowing down a bit on the basketball court — not so! She plays about 20 minutes a game. She is tied with Ivory Latta as Mersin's second-best scorer, shooting 53.3% for 12.6 points per game. She is also their #2 rebounder with 7.2 per game.
Cori Enghusen ('02) is also playing for Mersin this season. It's her sixth season of professional basketball, her fifth in Turkey, but her first with Mersin.
Cori, whose Turkish name is Korel Engin, comes off the bench for Mersin. She averages 3.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game.
