With the holiday season in full swing a majority of international leagues were on hiatus for the new year, leaving only three Liberty players in competition last week, Tanisha Wright, Shavonte Zellous, and Kiah Stokes in Turkey.
Unfortunately, all three suffered a setback in their final competition of 2016, but the Liberty trio posted strong numbers across the board.
Tanisha Wright, after missing a game on Christmas Eve, returned to the lineup to score 17 points while dishing out 6 assists, although Keyseri was edged by Botas 70-69.
For Zellous, Stokes and Besiktas, they lost a tough matchup against Yakin Dogu, a squad also filled with WNBA talent (Essence Carson, Courtney Vandersloot), 73-67. Zellous scored 17 points with 7 rebounds, while Stokes hauled in a game-high 18 boards, increasing her league-leading rebounding tally to 16.1 per contest.
All leagues will resume action this week, starting with Epiphanny Prince and Amanda Zahui B in EuroLeague group play on Wednesday, followed by Russian League games over the weekend.
Later this week, Carolyn Swords and Rebecca Allen will play in Eastern European Basketball League contests before their league action resumes.
LIBERTY INTERNATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tanisha Wright – Abdullah Gul
Tanisha Wright returned to the lineup to turn in an impressive stat line for Kayseri in its final game of 2016. Although they were edged by Botas, Wright logged 39 minutes and scored 17 points with 6 assists, also hauling in 3 rebounds with a steal.
Turkey-KBSL (7-3, Ranked 4th)
EuroCup Group B (6-0, Ranked 1st)
GM | MIN | FGA | FGM | FG% | 3FG | 3FGA | 3FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | |
#30 T. WRIGHT (Turkey) | 8 | 34.6 | 35 | 84 | .417 | 4 | 11 | .364 | 24 | 30 | .800 | 4.6 | 5.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 13.3 |
#30 T. WRIGHT (EuroCup) | 6 | 29.0 | 34 | 54 | .630 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 16 | 20 | .800 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 14.0 |
After missing Kayseri’s last game against Girne University, Tanisha Wright returned to the court for the final showdown of 2016 against Botas (Odyssey Sims, Natasha Lacy), but her team was edged 70-69, to fall to 7-3 in Turkish League play. Wright played 39 minutes, scoring 17 points to go along with 6 assists and 3 rebounds. Abdullah Gul resumes league play against Yakin Dogu on Jan. 7, and their EuroCup Round of 16 matchup with Nice will see its 1st leg played on January 19.
Turkey-KBSL (5-6, Ranked 10th)
GM | MIN | FGA | FGM | FG% | 3FG | 3FGA | 3FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | |
#2 S. ZELLOUS (Turkey) | 10 | 34.9 | 49 | 130 | .377 | 8 | 33 | .242 | 34 | 42 | .810 | 4.7 | 3.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 15.6 |
Shavonte Zellous continued her hot streak offensively to end 2016, but it was not enough to lift Besiktas past Yakin Dogu (Courtney Vandersloot, Essence Carson, Quanitra Hollingsworth, Elin Eldebrink) in a tough Turkish League matchup. Zellous scored 17 points, knocking down a three, with 7 rebounds and 3 assists, as Besiktas fell 73-67. Over the past two games, Zellous is averaging 18.0 ppg, as she has taken over the team lead offensively for her club. Besiktas is back in action against Istanbul University on Jan. 7.
Turkey-KBSL (5-6, Ranked 10th)
GM | MIN | FGA | FGM | FG% | 3FG | 3FGA | 3FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | |
#41 K. STOKES (Turkey) | 6 | 36.0 | 32 | 53 | .604 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 12 | 15 | .800 | 15.8 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 12.7 |
Kiah Stokes and Besiktas were edged by Yakin Dogu (Courtney Vandersloot, Essence Carson, Quanitra Hollingsworth, Elin Eldebrink) in their final match of 2016, 73-67. Stokes did not have her biggest offensive game for Besiktas, but she did rip down a game-high 18 rebounds, 8 of which came on the offensive end, while also swatting away 2 shots; she is now averaging a league-leading 16.1 rpg through 7 games in Turkey. Stokes and Besiktas return to action against Istanbul University on Jan. 7.