Hoops Nena -- the blog

Chantelle Anderson to UB Barça for '06-07

I could give you a relentless blow-by-blow of every transactional move in the Liga Feminina right now, or I could just cut to the stuff that really fascinates me. And right now, what's pulling my string is this hot little wire release that says that former Vanderbilt star/current WNBA San Antonio Silver Stars starting center Chantelle Anderson will play for UB-FC Barcelona next winter. UB Barça lost center Erika de Souza to Ros Casares at the end of this past season, and Azulgrana head coach Silvia Font seems very excited to have found a new center who brings defense, rebounding, and an "intimidation factor" to the team. Here's the article that appeared on www.FEB.es recently:

Chantelle Anderson, the new "5" for UB Barça

6/29/2006
Silvia Font finally has the center she asked for. With the loss of Erika de Souza to Ros Casares, UB FC Barcelona has had to scour the market to find a player who is guaranteed to bring intimidation, defense and rebounds: Chantelle Anderson.
It would be difficult to find a player with as many similarities to the powerful Erika de Souza, last season's MVP, who recently decided to become a part of the ambitions project undertaken by Ros Casares for next season. However, Anderson, 25, fits perfectly into the new philosophy that the Azulgrana have embraced to rejuvenate the team; she comes to Barcelona with tremendous ambition.
European and WNBA experience
UB Barça's new center, played this past season for Novosibirsk in the Russian league, for Valenciennes of France in 2004-2005, and for Mizo-Pecsi VSK of Hungary in 2003-2004.
Similarly, in the WNBA, UB Barça's new player has played her three seasons for two different teams, starting out with the Sacramento Monarchs, the team that made her the second overall pick in the 2003 draft. She played a total of 56 games for Sacramento in her two seasons there. After the second season, she was traded to San Antonio where she put up better numbers while playing 34 games her first season there.
Furthermore, Anderson has been singled out for the numerous awards she has received during her three professional seasons. She also was honored by the Associated Press as a second team All-American in her senior year at Vanderbilt, and holds the Vanderbilt all-time scoring record with 2,504 points. (Note: I have changed the AP All-American reference since it seemed to refer incorrectly to her rookie WNBA season).
A team player
Anna Junyer, UB FC Barça assistant head coach, has defined the new center for the league runner-up as "a team player." Junyer further singled out "her defensive intensity, a very important detail to help us develop our fast break game." What is more, according to an assistant coach for Barça, Anderson "has a tremendous wingspan and has outstanding shot blocking capability. I understand that in the Euroleague games she played for Hungary she averaged more than three blocks per game."

Source article:

Chantelle Anderson, la nueva '5' del UB Barça

¡Boletas!

No se vende boletas todavia para la Mundial Feminina en Brasil, pero cuando empiece, van estar aquí, en el sitio de www.fiba2006brazil.com. Faltan menos de tres meses para el disputo principio.

Fanaticos de futbol, ¡Ojo!

Nunca hacemos shout-outs aqui porque los odio, pero en mi pagina, hay mis reglas. Entonces, un shout-out muy pequeño: La Colleción Latino-Americano de la Universidad de Flórida tiene una exposición de libros sobro futbol Latinoamericano, ahora para celebrar la Copa Mundial. Esta incluye libros de Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brasil, Mexico, Haiti y Jamaica. Hemos acordado de que yo ponga un enlace ahora y ellos van a hacer una exposición de basquetbol luego. La exposición sigue hasta el medio de julio, por lo menos.

Recent transactions for España Liga Feminina

May 17: Elena Tornikidou (Perfumerías Avenida) signed with Ros Casares for the 2006-2007 season.
May 22: Silvia Domínguez (Adecco Estudiantes) signed with Perfumerías Avenida for 2006-2007.
May 24: Nicole Ohlde (WNBA Minnesota Lynx) signed by Perfumerías Avenida for 2006-2007.
May 26: Anke de Mondt re-signed and Leticia Revilla (LF2 Universidad de Burgos) signed with Arranz-Jopisa Burgos for the 2006-2007 season.
May 30: Sonia Blanco (Adecco Estudiantes) and Itziar Germán (Yaya María) signed with Arranz-Jopisa Burgos for 2006-2007.
June 7: Nicole Powell (WNBA Sacramento Monarchs) signed by Perfumerías Avenida for 2006-2007 season
June 8: Fatou Dieng re-signed by EBE-Puig D'en Valls for 2006-2007 season
June 9: Sancho Lyttle (WNBA Houston Comets), Jenni Benningfield (former WNBA Indiana Fever, Arranz-Jopisa Burgos) and Katia da Silva (Perfumerías Avenida) signed by EBE-Puig D'en Valls for 2006-2007.
June 11: Ingrid Pons re-signed with UB-Barcelona through 2007-2008 season
June 12: Ana Montañana (Ros Casares, George Washington University) signed with Perfumerías Avenida for 2006-2007 season.
Anna Cruz (Liga Francesa, Hondarríbia Irún) and Cristina Ciocan (University of South Carolina) signed with Arranz-Jopisa Burgos for the 2006-2007 season.
June 14: Eva Vilarrubla Seira (LF2 UE Mataró) signed with EBE-Puig D'en Valls for 2006-2007.
June 16: Laura Navarro (Cadí La Seu d'Urgell) signed with EBE-Puig D'en Valls for the 2006-2007 season.
Laura Muñoz (LF2 Caja Rural de Zamora) signed with Acis Incosa Léon for 2006-2007.

¡Ponme al corriente!

Estimados lectores, lo siento que hace como un mes que no dejé un cuento aquí. Empezaron mis clases de verano y estaba arollada por unas semanas. Pero no teman; he regresado. Como dijé antes, espero escribir una vez cada semana, por lo menos.
Ya comenzó la temporada de WNBA; voy a cubrirla por traducir por lo menos un partido por semana. Tambien, quiero traducir las obras de algunas de nuestros mejores periodistas de basquetbol feminina, como Mechelle Voepel y Nancy Lieberman.
Ademas, he puse mas eslabones de equipos de WNBA y sus programas.

Perfumerias Avenida put down UB Barcelona to win the title (57-50)

With a 57-50 win in a game that saw them subdue UB Barcelona in the fourth quarter, Perfumerias Avenida have finally captured their first Women's League title. Avenida did not waste the opportunity to decide the final in front of their hometown fans, topping off a great season by winning the Queen's Cup.

Salamanca, 9 May. 2006 (EFE) --

Tonight, Perfumerias Avenida de Salamanca won their first Women's Premier League title after defeating UB Barcelona 57-50 in the fourth game of the series to win by three games to one.
Before a packed house, surrounded by fans who never quit shouting for even one minute, the Salmantine team wrapped up a picture-perfect season in which they not only won the league title but also were Queen's Cup champions.
Everything seemed to indicate that the start of the game would set the tone for its development. Indeed, it was Barcelona that jumped ahead at first and Avenida appeared unable to do anything to surprise their rival.
Little by little, and thanks to the contribution of Avenida's pair of Americans, the Salmantinas started to recover the strength of their defense and the sureness of their offensive attack. They began to put points on the board.
In the second quarter, Barcelona made much better choices in their shot selection, but not in their game overall. On the other hand, they didn't make so many mistakes as to allow Avenidas a clear scoring advantage.
A change seemed imminent in the third quarter when the Salmantinas looked lifeless on offense and even failed to score on eight straight possessions.
Fortunately for Barcelona, they knew how to exploit these lapses. Although they too were having a rough day offensively, they continued to attack the basket and put points on the board, taking over the lead through sheer will.
With Barcelona leading by only four points, both teams fell into a frenzy, with each team jockeying for advantage and trying to catch the other off balance.
The main job for Avenida, which they achieved in short order, was to put the brakes on against Barcelona and keep them from scoring more.
Two straight offensive drives immediately after allowed the Salmantinas to even the score; shortly thereafter, they recovered the lead for the final time, never relinquishing it. At the last, Avenida took advantage of a pair of Barcelona breakdowns, crushing the Azulgrana's last hope of victory.
Box score: 57 - Perfumerías Avenida (24+11+5+17): Nuria Martínez (7), Laura Camps (2), Elena Tornikidou (16), Taj McWilliams (14) y Kelly Schumacher (18). También jugaron: Clara Bermejo (-) y Katia Da Silva (-)
50 - UB Barcelona (15+13+16+6): Helen Luz (8), Marta Fernández (1), Sandra Gallego (7), Ingrid Pons (2) y Erika da Souza (12). También jugaron: Elsa Donaire (3), Laura Antoja (1) y Razja Bracaninovic (16).
source: El Perfumerías Avenida se impone al UB Barcelona y logra el título (57-50)