EuroLeague Women: Undefeated Fenerbahçe takes on Schio; Nyara Sabally joins Praha

It was a rough offseason for Czech club ZVVZ USK Praha, which lost perennial EuroLeague Women MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas (who is now playing her overseas ball in China) and highly-effective center Brionna Jones, who is recovering from an Achilles injury suffered this past WNBA season.

Praha reloaded quickly, however, and thanks to players like Ezi Magbegor and Maite Cazorla, the club is still making plenty of noise in EuroLeague Women. Through three games, Magbegor is averaging 20 points and a league-leading 12.3 rebounds per game, while Cazorla leads the competition in assists at seven per game. As a team, Praha ranks third in EuroLeague Women in scoring (78.7 points per game) and first in rebounding (40.7 rebounds per game), which is a remarkable feat considering how much frontcourt talent the club failed to retain from last season.

Things are getting better for Praha, too. Forward Nyara Sabally, fresh off a WNBA Finals appearance with the New York Liberty, recently joined the club in Prague ahead of its Week 4 EuroLeague Women matchup against Perfumerias Avenida. Praha may not throw the young Sabally into the deep end just yet—at 2-1 and widely expected to be a contender for the EuroLeague Women title, there’s no reason for the club to be hasty—but when she does play, she’ll surely add even more international star power to an organization that’s plenty used to it.

Meanwhile, reigning EuroLeague Women champions Fenerbahçe Alagöz Holding remain perfect in group play, winning narrowly last week over Leonie Fiebich and Casademont Zaragoza. Despite the result, Fiebich was impressive, recording a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double and earning EuroLeague Women Player of the Week honors—the first and probably not the last of such honors for the talented young forward.

In Week 4, Fenerbahçe will take on Italian club Beretta Famila Schio, and it’s been tabbed by FIBA.com as the EuroLeague Women game of the week. The competition’s second-leading scorer, Kayla McBride (21.3 points per game), plays for Fenerbahçe alongside other top-notch talent including Natasha Howard and Emma Meesseman; their matchup against Dorka Juhász, Arella Guirantes, Robyn Parks and Schio will be a must-watch.

The Fenerbahçe-Schio matchup, along with all seven other EuroLeague Women games, will be streamed live and for free on FIBA’s EuroLeague Women YouTube channel. Here’s everything we’ll be watching for this week, including standout players and statistical trends.

Wednesday, October 25

Polski Cukier AZS UMCS Lublin (1-2) vs. DVTK HUN-Therm (3-0)

When: 12 p.m. ET

Where: DVTK Aréna in Miskolc, Hungary

How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream

Notable players: Shyla Heal, Channon Fluker, Elin Gustavsson (Polski Cukier AZS UMCS Lublin); Kaila Charles, Darcee Garbin (DVTK HUN-Therm)

Matchup details: Lublin got on the board last week with a surprisingly easy win over Sepsi-SIC, one in which Heal (25 points), Fluker (20 points and 12 rebounds) and Gustavsson (17 points and 11 rebounds) all played their best ball. It suddenly makes the long-term vision for the club much clearer, particularly for Heal, who had struggled with her shot in the previous two weeks. Lublin will now face a big test in DVTK, a club that has quietly remained among EuroLeague Women’s undefeated despite lacking the star power of the competition’s bigger names.

Beretta Famila Schio (2-1) vs. Fenerbahçe Alagöz Holding (3-0)

When: 12 p.m. ET

Where: Metro Energy Sports Hall in Istanbul, Turkey

How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream

Notable players: Dorka Juhász, Arella Guirantes, Robyn Parks, Jasmine Keys (Beretta Famila Schio); Natasha Howard, Kayla McBride, Emma Meesseman, Yvonne Anderson, Kitija Laksa, Nikolina Milic (Fenerbahçe Alagöz Holding)

Matchup details: Howard had a rough first game back with Fenerbahçe last week, scoring two points in 14 minutes. It goes without saying that she’ll need to be better against Schio’s front line, which has both size and skill. How Guirantes handles McBride will be another intriguing individual matchup: one young, up-and-coming scoring guard against a veteran playing some of the best basketball of her career. There will be big names everywhere on the court in this one, and it could also have late-season tiebreaker implications should the two clubs remain close in the Group A standings.

KGHM BC Polkowice (2-1) vs. Çukurova Basketbol Mersin (2-1)

When: 12 p.m. ET

Where: Servet Tazegül Spor Salonu in Mersin, Turkey

How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream

Notable players: Brittney Sykes, Charli Collier, Brianna Fraser (KGHM BC Polkowice); Alina Iagupova, Marina Mabrey, Elizabeth Williams (Çukurova Basketbol Mersin)

Matchup details: Mersin has won both of its games since adding Mabrey and Williams to its roster, but now has to deal with a major coaching change. Roberto Íñiguez, one of the most accomplished coaches in EuroLeague Women history, resigned from Mersin abruptly last week. While the Turkish club still certainly has the talent to win big games, we’ll see how it handles the adversity against Polkowice. Sykes, in particular, has game-changing athleticism, while Fraser has also been a nice surprise in her first season with Polkowice, averaging a team-high 15 points and eight rebounds per game.

Basket Landes (0-3) vs. SERCO UNI Győr (0-3)

When: 12 p.m. ET

Where: University Hall of Györ in Györ, Hungary

How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream

Notable players: Alexis Peterson, Sam Fuehring, Luisa Geiselsöder (Basket Landes); Diamond Miller, Kristine Anigwe, Cyesha Goree, Destiny Slocum (SERCO UNI Győr)

Matchup details: Győr will be without Miller for at least a few weeks due to a knee injury, according to the club, which is a huge blow. Győr will, however, still have a good opportunity to finally get on the board this week against Landes, which is currently averaging the fewest points per game (71) of any club in Group B. On the other hand, Győr’s defense (87 points allowed per game) has been the worst in the entire competition to this point. So if Landes is going to break out of its funk, now would be the time to do it. Without Miller, Anigwe will be the main player to watch in this matchup; she’s currently leading EuroLeague Women in scoring at 22.3 points per game.

ACS Sepsi-SIC (0-3) vs. Valencia Basket Club (2-1)

When: 1:15 p.m. ET

Where: Pabellón Municipal Fuente de San Luis in Valencia, Spain

How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream

Notable players: Bethy Mununga, Borislava Hristova, Morgan Green, Ellen Nystrom (ACS Sepsi-SIC); Rebecca Allen, Marie Gülich, Alba Torrens, Leticia Romero, Clauda Contell (Valencia Basket Club)

Matchup details: Sepsi-SIC continues to struggle offensively, shooting 39.8 percent from the field as a team and averaging 19 turnovers per game against just 13.6 assists. Things won’t get any easier this week against a Valencia club that is currently ranked No. 3 in the competition by FIBA.com. If Sepsi-SIC will have one advantage, it’s at the free throw line; though the Romanian club is shooting a poor 62.5 percent from the stripe, Valencia isn’t even getting there, averaging just 7.3 free throw attempts through three games. If that number regresses in the right direction for Valencia, though, this could be a blowout.

Casademont Zaragoza (1-2) vs. LDLC ASVEL Féminin (0-3)

When: 2 p.m. ET

Where: Astroballe in Villeurbanne, France

How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream

Notable players: Tanaya Atkinson, Leonie Fiebich, Aleksa Gulbe (Casademont Zaragoza); Julie Allemand, Sandrine Gruda, Marine Fauthoux (LDLC ASVEL Féminin)

Matchup details: There hasn’t been a bigger disappointment in the competition thus far than ASVEL. While its 0-3 record and -68 cumulative point differential could easily be explained by the absence of its top two players (Gabby Williams and Marine Johannès), longtime fans of international basketball are probably not used to seeing the prestigious French club at the bottom of its respective group. Zaragoza, which gave Fenerbahçe all it could handle last week behind Fiebich (16 points and 11 rebounds), should be looking at this week’s game as an opportunity to steal a win against a club it may not otherwise have such an advantage over.

Virtus Segafredo Bologna (3-0) vs. Villeneuve d’Ascq LM (1-2)

When: 2 p.m. ET

Where: Palacium in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France

How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream

Notable players: Lauren Cox, Iliana Rupert, Cecilia Zandalasini, Ivana Dojkić, Haley Peters (Virtus Segafredo Bologna); Kennedy Burke, Kamiah Smalls, Shavonte Zellous, Maia Hirsch (Villeneuve d’Ascq LM)

Matchup details: Bologna just keeps rolling, ranking second in EuroLeague Women in scoring (84.7 points) and assists (23.3 assists) per game and currently featuring six players averaging double-digit points. Dojkić has been particularly hot (18 points and 3.7 3-pointers made per game) and we’ll now get to see if she can keep it going against a Villeneuve d’Ascq club with several talented perimeter players. Burke currently leads the competition in steals per game (2.7) to go with her 19 points per game. Smalls is a threat to go off from beyond the arc, too, though her performance has been inconsistent thus far (25 percent 3-point shooting).

ZVVZ USK Praha (2-1) vs. Perfumerias Avenida (2-1)

When: 2:30 p.m. ET

Where: Pabellón Municipal Würzburg in Salamanca, Spain

How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream

Notable players: Ezi Magbegor, Nyara Sabally, Maite Cazorla, Maria Conde, Valériane Vukosavljević (ZVVZ USK Praha); Bria Hartley, Sika Koné, Alexis Prince, Silvia Dominguez (Perfumerias Avenida)

Matchup details: Can Sabally fill the Brionna Jones-sized hole in Praha’s frontcourt? That’s a tall task, but she can certainly add more depth to what the Czech club is already excellent at: rebounding. Praha is leading the competition in rebounds per game (40.7), which will obviously be a concern for Avenida (34 rebounds per game; 12th in EuroLeague Women). Avenida’s offense hasn’t been an issue overall—the club is shooting an even 50 percent from the field and turned the ball over just five times in last week’s loss to Bologna—but will need more from Hartley (1-for-8 shooting last week) as a primary offensive option. We’ll see if Koné, who is playing 12.7 minutes per game, can get more playing time against Praha’s size.