Spanish League Round 21: Shay Murphy out for season

Spain this year only had one professional team competing in international pro competitions - Perfumerias took part in the prestigious Euroleague competition and managed to make it to the quarterfinals.  They would play a best-of-three series against Czech Republic pro team USK Praha.

Hopes were high.  Perfumerias had cleared up its schedule by playing its Round 21 game early last week against Gipuzkoa UPV, winning easily.  Perfumerias played the first game at its home court, but not only lost 50-48...but Shay Murphy injured her left knee.  The knee injury will require surgery.

The injury not only ended Murphy's season, it had multiple consequences.  It affects her return to the WNBA.  Since the injury happened after the close of the transfer period, Perfumerias can't replace Murphy - this will affect Perfumerias's performance in a big way since Murphy was their leading scorer.

Finally, it ended Perfumerias's season in Euroleague.  Heading to Prague a few days later, they were routed 72-43 in the rematch and Perfumerias was swept out of the playoffs.  We won't know what kind of team Perfumerias really is until next week, but I suspect that they chances that Perfumerias might not win a regular season title or a domestic championship just jumped from small to medium.

Perfumerias already played its Round 21 game, but there were six more games in Round 21 ready to play.  So what happened?

Gran Canaria 89, Campus Promete 67

Campus Promete (5-16), bolstered by the presence of Devereaux Peters and a big win against Conquero, had high hopes going to the islands to take on Gran Canaria (7-14). which had lost four straight games.  But a great defensive game by Samarie Walker mean that Campus Promete would lose by 20+ on the road.

After an even first quarter, Promete was swamped in a 33-10 second quarter that left them down 54-31 at halftime.  Patricia Cabrera hit 3 straight 3-pointers in that quarter.  The 23 point deficit was just too much for Promete to overcome.   Chanel Mokango picked up her fourth foul in the third quarter, and Samarie Walker simply had Mokango overmatched.  After Mokango was neutralized, Walker went to work on Devereaux Peters.  Promete had a grand total of 17 turnovers.

Robyn Parks led Gran Canaria with 25 points/6 rebounds and Vega Gimeno had 24 points.  Samarie Walker had a great game with 11 points/13 rebounds/5 steals. Clearly, Gran Canaria's players turned up with big games.

Leslie Knight led Campus Promete with 11 points/6 rebounds.  Adijana Knezevic had 10 points.  Devereaux Peters had 7 points/9 rebounds (but 5 turnovers) and Chanel Mokango had just 5 points in 10 minutes of play.

Girona 72, Conquero 57

In a major game between playoff contenders, Girona (18-3) came back from a first quarter deficit to take the next three quarters and win on the road against Conquero (16-5).

Conquero had a cold game, losing its second straight.  It only shot 30 percent against Girona and had 17 turnovers.  Gabriel Carrasco, head coach at Girona, stated that the team was just four points down at one point but then they had 11 scored against them and that was it.  The loss puts Conquero two games back from second place, but he states that they've not given up on a push for second place.

For Conquero, Maria Pina had 18 points/6 rebounds.  Adaora Elonu had 13 points/6 rebounds and Chelsea Davis had 11 points/8 rebounds.  Aja Parham had 6 points/7 rebounds in the loss.

Girona's Ify Ibekwe had 25 points/17 rebounds, shooting 9-for-13.  Vanessa Gidden had 15 points/6 rebounds and Noemi Jordana had 11 points/5 rebounds.  Brittany Chambers had 4 points/6 rebounds in 31 minutes of play.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Such a great team win tonight! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Girona?src=hash">#Girona</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AO1?src=hash">#AO1</a> </p>&mdash; Ify Ibekwe (@ifyibekwe) <a href="https://twitter.com/ifyibekwe/status/573988658790989824">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Cadi La Seu 67, Gernika 64

Cadi La Seu (14-7), hanging on to the fourth and final play off spot in the Liga Femenina, managed to put some distance against 5th place contender Gernika (12-9) to eke out a 3 point win on the road.

Key to Cadi La Seu's victory was 3-point shooting - they shot 10-for-23 from 3-point range.  In the second half, the referees let both teams play and Gernika managed to dig themselves out from a 57-66 hole, but the final three pointers was from Gernika's Izaskun Garcia, which fell short

Britany Miller scored 26 points/6 rebounds for Gernika - Gernika shot 13-for-19.  Bernice Mosby scored 17 points/5 rebounds.  Rachel Vanderwal had 14 points, and Izaskun Garcia had 7 assists.

Ndidi Madu scored 16 points/6 rebounds in the win.  Georgina Bahi had 15 points and Ben Hind also had 15 points.  Laura Gill had 9 points/11 rebounds.  Tyrese Tanner only played 11 minutes, and had just one point.

Rivas Ecopolis 62, Al-Qazeres 55

Rivas Ecopolis's (10-11) goal after their horrible start this season - stay out of the relegation zone.  They seem well on their way to reaching their goal, keeping visiting team Al-Qazares (5-16) at arms length for the win.

Al-Qazares started out putting Rivas on the ropes, leading 17-8 after the first quarter.  After that, it was all Rivas Ecopolis. They were down 28-23 at halftime, and in the fourth quarter, they went on a 12-0 run that sealed the victory.  According to the Rivas Ecopolis website, even if they lose every game in the rest of the season, they should beat other bottom dwellers like Campus Promete and Mann Filter on tie-breakers.

Angela Salvadores had 15 points and Lady Comfort had 6 points/14 rebounds for Rivas.  Aleksandra Vujovic had 16 points and Lyndra Weaver contributed 10 points/7 rebounds.

For Al-Qazeres, Callan Taylor led all players with 14 points/8 rebounds.  Andrea Vilaro had 10 points.  Karla Gilbert had 9 points/6 rebounds and Jennifer George had 4 points in 15 minutes of play.

Trivia: Approximately 80 Al-Qazeres fans were at the Rivas home court to support the visitors.

Lyndra Weaver posted some clips on her Instagram account of her working with her trainer.


Zamarat 81, Ferrol 61

Zamarat (9-12) enjoyed the benefit of not just a win, but a 20 point win against visiting team Ferrol (7-14).

It was "Orange Day" at Zamarat, where fans were encouraged to wear orange.  Zamarat got off to a good start as a 3-pointer by Caroline Durbin finished the first quarter with Zamarat leading 20-12.  By halftime, Zamarat would lead by 12 points and even though Ferrol fought on, they were outclassed by the home squad - Zamarat whipped Ferrol on the boards by a 46-19 margin.

Daria Mieloszynska-Zwolak led Zamarat with 24 points with 3-for-6 3-point shooting.  Sofia Gomes had 13 points/13 rebounds and Sandra Pirsic had 12 points/12 rebounds in a big rebounding day for Zamora.

No member of the Ferrol team had more than five rebounds.  DeNesha Stallworth had 25 ponits/5 rebouns and Haley Peters had 11 rebounds.  The only other player from Ferrol to score in double digits was Cristina Pedrals with 13.

Bembibre 72, Mann Filter 69 (OT)

In Sunday's final Round 21 game, Bemibre (12-9) would travel to Mann Filter (5-16) in a game in an important game for both sides - particularly home squad Mann Filter, who took the better team to overtime only to fall short by a basket.

Mann Filter was down by six going into the fourth quarter, but took the lead with three minutes left, forcing the overtime.  Not much detail on line, otherwise.  Bembibre got 31 trips to the free throw line and hit 24 shots, compared to Mann Filter's 15-for-21 performance.

Four players scored in double figures for Mann Filter, led by Yvonne Turner with 19 points/6 rebounds and Kristine Vitola with 16 points/16 rebounds.  Laura Herrera added 10 points to Mann Filter's final total.

A pair of layers had double-doubles for Bembibre.  Anna Gomez had 19 points/10 rebounds and Rita Montenegro also had 19 points/10 rebounds.  Ariel Edwards had 12 points in 25 minutes and Orla O'Reilly played 42 minutes and added 10 points.

Round 22  (13 March-15 March)

*Gran Canaria (7-14) @ Mann Filter (5-16)
*Gipuzkoa UPV (8-13) @ Bembibre (12-9)
Zamarat (9-12) @ Perfumerias (19-2)
*Rivas Ecopolis (10-11) @ Ferrol (7-14)
*Gernika (12-9) @ Al-Qazeres (5-16)
*Conquero (16-5) @ Cadi La Seu (14-7)
Campus Promete (5-16) @ *Girona (18-3)

* - Won previous Round 9 game