Spanish League Round 12: Spain's "Google Tax"; McDonald leaves Gran Canaria

Before we write about the Round 12 games, it might be a bit more difficult to follow Liga Femenina games as a non-Spanish speaker.  This has to do with a dispute between Google and Spanish publishers that will end up shutting down Google News Spain until one side or the other gives way.

A bill was passed by the Spanish parliament stating that Google must pay Spanish news publishers (or their representatives) for posting excerpts of articles from Spanish news websites - and even a link is considered an excerpt.  Other countries have passed similar laws, but Google has gotten around these laws by making deals with the individual publishers.  In these cases, the publishers would waive the fee for Google and Google could add their news to the news service.

Spain, however, has gone one step farther.  Under the new law, Spanish publishers don't have the option to opt out.  Google says that it doesn't make any money under News Google and it won't pay, so it has closed the service.  The news site will officially go down on December 16th.  It's a pre-emptive strike, as the law doesn't go into effect in January 2015.

How does that effect fans of international women's basketball?  Obviously, it makes it harder to find content because News Google is a nice one-stop shop.  There are lots of great news sites like zonadostres.com or encancha.com, reporters like Fran Cortés and the various Twitter accounts of Liga Femenina teams will post links to game write-ups from Spanish media.  Unfortunately, life for fans of Spanish pro basketball who don't live in Spain or speak Spanish will find life just a little bit harder.

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Akila McDonald, one of two American players for Cadi La Seu, has agreed to a contract termination between herself and the club.  This isn't as bad as it sounds, because the reason for the termination is that McDonald, a center who graduated from South Florida in 2013,  will go to Trieste in the Italian A1 women's league.

McDonald averaged 5.8 ppg and 7.2 RPG, averaging 21 minutes of play over 11 games and shooting 54 percent from the field (26-48) and 50 percent from the foul line (12-24).  Trieste needs as much help as it can get - it is 1-10 in the Serie A1 and dead last in the 14-team upper league.

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Uni Girona 78, Al-Qazares 71

Play started in the Liga Femenina on Friday with Uni Girona (11-1) hitting the road and playing Al-Qazeres (2-10).  Even though Al-Qazeres is at the bottom of the league table, they gave Uni Girona a hard time on the way to a 78-71 vcitory.

Al-Qazeres got a good start with a 4-0 run to open the first quarter and finish the first 10 minutes at 20-16 as Uni Girona gave up too many easy shots.  However, Brittany Chambers and Noemi Jordana helped Uni Girona go on an 10-2 run in the second that helped to give Uni Girona a 37-36 halftime lead. 

The third quarter went back and forth initially but Uni Girona would lead by eight going into the final quarter.  By six minutes in, Al-Qazeres had closed the gap down to three (66-63) and with 1:15 left on the clock the gap was still three (72-69).  Unfortunately for Al-Qazeres, a final push by Brittany Chambers helped the visitor secure the win.

Four players scored in double-figures for Al-Qazeres.  Andrea Vilaro led with 14 points. Karla Gilbert is supposedly getting better with more play and had 10 points.  Al-Qazeres shot 16-for-17 from the free throw line.

Uni Girona's Ify Ibekwe led with another smashing 27 point/13 rebound game.  Brittany Chambers followed right behind with 15 points.  Uni Girona only played eight players for the course of the entire game.

Cadi La Seu 68, Gran Canaria 65


Cadi La Seu (8-4) had to go on the road against Gran Canaria (3-9) and they almost let it slip away before holding back Gran Canaria to get the 68-65 road win.

This was actually sort of a road game for Gran Canaria.  Before the game started, they decided to move the game to the Island Sports Center because there was too much moisture on the court.  The game was scheduled to start at 7 pm Gran Canaria time but after the relocation, the game got started without incident at 8:30 pm island time.

Gran Canaria jumped off to a quick 21-11 lead, and it would be Cadi La Seu's job to get the lead back.  Turnovers plagued Gran Canaria in the second half and Cadi La Seu began closing the gap.  Cadi La Seu took a brief 51-50 lead with 20 seconds left in teh third quarter before a couple of free throws from Gran Canaria that allowed them to finish up by one after three quarters.

It was a tight game for the last quarter but a 6-0 run during that quarter was what Cadi La Seu needed to get the win.

Akila McDonald did not play in the Gran Canaria game and was already on a plane that evening.  Four players scored in double figures for the home team, led by Iris Junto with 18 points and 14 rebounds.  Robyn Parks had 16 points and 5 rebounds for Gran Canaria.

Four players also finished in double figures for Cadi La Seu.  Ben Adelkader led with 15 points/6 rebounds.  Tyrese Tanner had two points and five rebounds for the winners in 21 minutes of play, shooting 1-for-6.  Cadi La Seu was 11-for-12 overall at the free throw line.

Robyn Parks puts the peach in the basket in this Vine animation:

Ferrol 83, Campus Promete 81 (OT)

Other team at the bottom of the table, Campus Promete (2-10) manages to force the game into overtime but can't overcome the home squad Ferrol (5-7).

With less than 35 seconds to go in the overtime period, Cristina Pedrals hit a 3-pointer that seemed to lock the game up for Ferrol 82-81.  But Campus Promete wasn't out of it yet. With 22 seconds left DeNesha Stallworth missed two free throws after the expected foul.  Ferrol was lucky enough to get an offensive rebound, Promete fouled again and Beatriz Sanchez hit 1-for-2 for Ferrol to make the score 83-81 giving Promete the last possession.  However, Stallworth made up for her earlier gaffe at the free throw line after getting a critical steal to seal the victory.

Ferrol's leader was Haley Peters with 22 points.  DeNehsa Stallworth had 15 points/16 rebounds for the winners.  Cristina Pedrals had 17 points and 7 assists in the win.

Adrijana Knezevic has 20 points/6 rebounds for Campus Promete in the loss.  Maria Garcia had 10 points/6 rebounds.  Leslie Knight scored 12 points and Chanel Mokango had 8 points in 11 minutes of play.

Trivia: Total attendance for this game:  400.

Perfumerias 65, Conquero 37

In a battle between two teams at the top of the table, Perfumerias (11-1) puts a beatdown on visiting Conquero (10-2).  With Uni Girona's win, the loss knocks Conquero down to third place.

It was a very slow start, but Perfumerias found its footing before Conquero did and Conquero couldn't get out of single digits in the first quarter.  Perfumerias led 19-6 at the end of the first quarter and won every quarter after that.  Leading 39-16 at the half, this one was over before it was over.

Angel Robinson (14 points/12 rebounds) and Shay Murhpy (13 points) were the only Perfumieras players in double digits as Perfumerias coach Alberto Miranda emptied the bench.  No one played longer than 26 minutes for Perfumerias.

It was a sad performance for Conquero with no player scoring more than 7 points.  The team was held to 27 percent shooting and out-rebounded 49-26.  Perfumerias had 22 turnovers in this game...but Conquero had 25 to top that.  Not exactly compelling basketball.  Chelsea Davis only had four points in 17 mintues and Aja Parham only had 6 points in 32 minutes.

Shay Murphy joins her teammates in a commercial for PYFANO, an association of families with children with cancer. The team is holding a raffle that both Murphy and the team put together.

Angel Robinson celebrates Christmas overseas in this Instagram link.

Bembibre 63, Gernika 56

After a poor first quarter, Gernika (6-6) makes a final quarter push but couldn't close the gap against home squad Bembibre (8-4) as they lose on the road.  Bembibre gets its third straight win.

At the end of the third quarter, Bembibre led by 20 points.  They felt they could slack off a bit, and Gernika got two 7-0 runs that helped make the score look a lot closer than it really was.

Orla O'Reilly led Bembibre with 24 points.  Anna Gomez only had 3 points but had 7 rebounds and 6 assists in her 31 minutes of play.

For Gernika, it was Bernice Mosby with 25 points and 10 rebounds.  The only other player who scored in double figures for Gernika was Rachael Vanderwal with 11.  Britany Miller had eight points in 22 minutes of play.

Zamarat 86, Gipuzkoa UPV 81 (OT)

In another close game, this time it was Zamarat (6-6) that got the victory on the road in overtime against Gipuzkoa UPV (5-7).

It's hard to find out much about this one, so we'll have to go to to box score. It was a pretty tight game until the overtime period.  This one was probably decided by the play of Sofia Gomes da Silva, who shot 10 for 11 from the free throw line and 8-for-15 from the field.

Da Silva's ended up with 26 points/11 rebounds after 42 minutes of play.  Four other players had double figures, including Caroline Durbin with 10 points and five rebounds.

Gipuzkoa UPV was led by Maria Gomez with 32 points.  Lenita Sanford had 17 points and 20 rebounds in the loss.

Rivas Ecopolis 81, Mann Filter 59.

In Sunday's final game of Round 12, Rivas Ecopolis (4-8) put some separation between itself and the bottom-most teams of the league as they beat Mann Filter (3-9) decisively on the road.

Rivas had a 10 point lead after the first quarter and a 15 point lead by halftime.  In the fourth quarter, Rivas swamped Mann Filter 28-17 and had full command.

Lady Comfort had a big game for Rivas, with 20 points and nine rebounds.  Angela Salvadores followed right behind with 19 points and five rebounds.  Rivas finished with 52 percent shooting.

Samarie Walker led the home squad with 13 points and eight rebounds.  Laura Herrera had 12 points and five rebounds.  Beatriz Royo had 12 points and Belen Arrojo had 11 points in the loss.

Perfumieras (11-1) @ Campus Promete (2-10)
Ferrol (5-7) @ Girona (11-1)
Al-Qazeres (2-10) @ Cadi La Seu (8-4)
Gran Canaria (3-9) @ Zamarat (6-6)
Gipuzkoa UPV (5-7) @ Rivas Ecopolis (4-8)
Mann Filter (3-9) @ Gernika (6-6)
Bembibre (8-4) @ Conquero (10-2)