Spanish League play to get underway - all about the Liga Femenina, Part II

On Tuesday, Swish Appeal took a look at the setup of the Spanish professional women's league, also known as the Liga Femenina.  There are 14 teams in the league, and on Tuesday we looked at the setup of the league which starts play on October15th and looked in detail at seven of the teams.  In this article, we'll conclude our look at the teams...and at the end, we'll see where we can find the league's American players on Twitter, Instagram and elsewhere.

Obtained from d-maps.com under terms of use - original URL = http://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car=2192&lang=en

Name: Gipuzkoa Universidad del Pais Vasco
Shorter name: Gipuzkoa
Located in: San Sebastián, Spain, a city of 186,409 in the Basque Country in Spain.  See "Gernika".
Interesting factoid:  The San Sebastian Film Festival is held here.

Team colors: black and white

Anyone you've heard of?

Jeanise Randolph.  6'2 forward from Cincinnati, graduated in 2014.  This is her first season overseas.

Head coach: Aranzazu "Zazu" Muguruza.  Only female head coach in the LFB.  Has been coaching since 2007; has been with Gipuzkoa for six years.

History: Finished in first place three straight years from 2011-13 in LF2 and finally got promoted in the 2013-14 season, where they finished eighth.

Prospects: Bringing back most of their players, so they should finish in the middle of the table.

Websites/social media:

@GipuzkoaBasket : Twitter site for all Gipuzkoa teams



Name: Gran Canaria 2014 Canarias
Shorter name: Gran Canaria
Located in: Las Palmas, capital of the Canary Islands with a population of 383,308 according to Wikipedia.  Subtropical. Even though it is part of Spanish territory, the Canary Islands are off the coast of Africa, near southern Morocco.  Players in Gran Canaria had better prepare for a lot of travel.
Interesting factoid: Sister city of San Antonio, Texas.  If you're a Stars fan, you might want to root for Gran Canaria.

Team colors: blue and yellow

Anyone you've heard of?

Akila McDonald.  6'4 center from South Florida, graduated in 2014.  This is her first overseas team.

Head coach: Bosa Fermín.  Coached Gran Canaria in 2009-10, and then again from 2013-present.  I believe Domingo Diaz has moved to a management role.

History: Has been around since 1996.  EuroCup finalist in 2011 and 2012.  Made it to the playoffs last season.  Usually a strong middle-division team.

Prospects: The team is plugging holes to offset the losses of Astou Ndour (to Fenerbahce in Turkey) and Brittany Chambers (to Uni Girona).  Might not make the playoffs but should still be an upper middle team. 

Websites/social media:

http://www.cbislascanarias.com/es/noticias.html - main website of the team
@cbislascanarias - Twitter site for the women's team


Name: Mann Filter Zaragoza
Shorter name: Mann Filter
Located in:  Zaragoza, Spain.  Located in northeastern Spain, according to Wikipedia it has a population of 701,900, the 35th most populous municipality in the European Union.
Interesting factoid: "A permanent feature built for Expo 2008 is the pump-powered artificial whitewater course "El Canal de Aguas Bravas."

Team colors: green and white

Anyone you've heard of?

Samarie Walker.  6'1 forward/center from Connecticut, then Kentucky, graduated in 2014.  This is her first season overseas.  (Her Kentucky teammate, DeNesha Stallworth, is playing her first year overseas at Ferrol.)

Head coach: Jesús Gutiérrez.  He's 41 years old and has coached men's and women's basketball for a long time.  I believe it's been a few years, though, since he's coached a women's team.

History: There have actually been two Mann Filters, since the old team folded in 2013 and the ownership of LF2 team Clickseguros took over the name.  Looking at the teams owned by the new ownership and assuming some continuity, Mann Filter Mark II started as an LF2 team in 2008, getting its promotion to the LFB in the 2013-14 season, where it finished 9th.

Prospects: Walker certainly ought to be able to help them, but I don't know if their core will be back.  If their core is back, they'll probably finish in the middle of the table.  If the core doesn't come back, this is going to be a *very* young team.

Websites/social media:

http://www.stadiumcasablanca.com/ - all of the sports of the new Mann Filter
@jesusgutierrrez - Twitter account of Jesús Gutiérrez, but he doesn't post much.





Name: Perfumerias Avenida Salamanca
Shorter name: Perfumerias
Located in: Salamanca, Spain.  Located in norwestern Spain with a population of 154,462 according to Wikipedia.
Interesting factoid: "Among the American universities that sponsor significant summer semester programs [to the University of Salamanca] are the University of Connecticut, Wake Forest University, Lamar University of Beaumont,Texas, Lamar State College of Port Arthur,Texas and the University of Georgia."

Team colors: blue and white

Anyone you've heard of?

Eshaya Murphy.  5'11 swing player from Southern California, graduated in 2007.  Has 199 games in the WNBA, most recently for the 2014 WNBA champion Phoenix Suns.

Angel Robinson.  6'6 forward from Georgia, graduated in 2010.  She was drafted by the Sparks in 2010, but injuries kept her from making the team.  She played a few preseason games for the 2011 Mystics, and then played overseas for Perfumerias.  Finally, in 2014, she made the roster of the Seattle Storm.

Head coach: Alberto Miranda.  He's 36 years old and has been Perfumerias's head coach for the past four years.

History: Perfumerias has been one of Spain's top flight teams for a long time.  They have finished in the top three teams of the Spanish league for the last 10 seasons, and have participated in Euroleague for the last eight seasons.  In 2011, they won the Euroleague Champsionship. They were in the finals of the Spanish League last season after finishing first in the regular season, but lost the finals to Rivas Ecopolis.

Prospects: Damned good. They'll probably finish at least second this year in the regular season and most likely first.  They'll return to the finals in the Spanish League barring injury. As for Euroleague, they'll contend but I don't think they have the firepower to finish anywhere but middle of the field against the best teams in Europe.

Websites/social media:

http://www.perfumeriasavenidabaloncesto.com/ - the team website
@CBAvenida - the Twitter site, which is very good



Name: Rivas Ecopolis
Shorter name: uh, Rivas Ecopolis?
Located in: Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Spain.  It's about 20 miles away from Madrid, the national capital of Spain.  According to Wikipedia, the population is 72,896.
Interesting factoid: "Together with San Fernando de Henares and Casarrubuelos, it has been one of the best areas for United Left in the Madrid community."

Team colors: given the political leanings of the community, a very appropriate red and white

Anyone you've heard of?

Brianna Kulis.  6'1 forward, graduated from Missouri in 2014.  She was drafted in the third round of the 2014 draft by the San Antonio Stars, but didn't make the roster.  After that, she was initially signed by Gran Canaria, but the translated-badly-from-Spanish-to-English-by-Google articles I've read imply that she had trouble adjusting.  She was picked up on September 28th by Rivas.

Head coach: José Ignacio Hernández.  He's 45 years old, and I've written about him before.

History: They've been in the upper league since 2007, and have been a top three team in Spanish basketball for the past six seasons. Last year, they gained their first ever league title by beating Perfumerias in the LFB Finals, two games to one.  They've played in Euroleague for the last six years - getting as far as the Finals in 2012 - but are taking a break from international competition this season.

Prospects: The Turks just stole their top two scorers from last season, Frida Eldebrink and Laura Nicholls.  It's going to be a tough season and I doubt they'll repeat.

Websites/social media:

http://www.basketrivasecopolis.com/ - team website of the Rivas clubs
@BasketRivas - official Twitter site of the club
@Joseihf - official Twitter of José Ignacio Hernández



Name: Spar Uni Girona
Shorter name: Uni Girona
Located in: Girona, Spain. According to Wikipedia this is a city in northeasternmost Spain.  The population is about 96,722.
Interesting factoid: "The history of the Jewish community of Girona ended in 1492, when the Catholic Kings expelled all the Jews from Catalonia."

Team colors: black and white

Anyone you've heard of?

Brittany Chambers.  5'8 guard from Kansas State, graduated in 2013.  Played one preseason game for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2013, did not make the roster.  This is her second season in Spain after playing for Gran Canaria last year.

Ify Ibekwe.  6'2 power forward, graduated from Arizona in 2011.  Played three games for the Seattle Storm in 2011 and one preseason game for Phoenix in 2013.  Has played in Belgium, France, and Spain.

Head coach:  Ramón Jordana.  He's 61 years old and this is his first season with Uni Girona after spending several seasons in LF2.

History: Has been in the upper league since 2009.  Usually finishes in the top half of the league.  Were playoff semifinalists in 2012 and 2013.

Prospects: They lost their two leading scorers. If Chambers and Ibekwe can't provide offense, it's going to be a rough season.

Websites/social media:

http://www.unigirona.cat/ - main team website


Name: Alimentos de Zamora
Shorter name: Zamora
Located in: Zamora, Spain.  A city near the Portugal border with a population of 66,293 according to Wikipedia.
Interesting factoid: "The Spanish proverb, No se ganó Zamora en una hora, literally, Zamora wasn't won in an hour, is a reference to [fierce royal fighting in the 15th century]. It is the Spanish equivalent of the English proverb "Rome wasn't built in a day.""

Team colors: orange and white

Anyone you've heard of?

Caroline Durbin.  6'0 guard, graduated from New Mexico in 2013.  This is her first season overseas.

Head coach: Juan de Mena.  He's 45 years old and has coached in Spanish basketball for at least the last seven years, and this will be his second season with Zamora.

History: They just made it into the LFB in 2011.  They've had finished of 10th, 8th, and 12th.

Prospects: It looks like they lose their lead scorer from last season, Shameka Christon.  I suspect they'll be trying to stay away from relegation this year.

Websites/social media:

http://www.cdzamarat.es/ - I think this is the website, but the club has changed its name and the website doesn't reflect the new name.

@CDZamarat - twitter site of the club

(* * * * *)

So where are the players hanging out?  If you want to figure out how to find them, look no further!

Al-Qazares

Afure Jemerigbe - Introduction of Jemerigbe to her Al-Qazeres team

Callan Taylor - TV Promo for Sentir Caceres TV

@caltaylor20 : Twitter account of Callan Taylor

Lady Comfort - Team presentation with Andrea Vilaro and Lady Comfort

Cadi La Seu

http://instagram.com/_bigslim32 - instagram account of Tyrese Tanner

Conquero

Presentation of "Black Power" - Chelsea Davis, Adaora Elonu and Aja Parham

@ChelsDavisFSU - Twitter account of Chelsea Davis
@AjaDanielle_P - Twitter account of Aja Parham

Ferrol

@HaleyPeters - Twitter account of HaleyPeters
@denesha11 - Twitter account of DeNesha Stallworth

Gernika

@BerniceMosby - Twitter account of Bernice Mosby

Gran Canaria

@DamnnThats_PJ - Twitter account of Akila McDonald

@_RobDoTheJob_ - Twitter account of Robyn Parks (added 10/9/2014)

Mann Filter

@samarie_ - Twitter account of Samarie Walker
http://instagram.com/crownmeking_23 - Instagram account of Samarie Walker

Perfumerias

@shaymurphy14 - Twitter account of Eshaya Murphy
@angelrobinson33 - Twitter account of Angel Robinson

http://instagram.com/i_love-mearob - Instagram account of Angel Robinson