International Women's Basketball Thread

[G R E Y]

There are increasing paths to the WNBA and to professional basketball for women. A player like undrafted Marine Johannes found her way to the WNBA through French grassroots programs up through Tony Parker's ASVEL Feminin before signing with and eventually playing for NY Liberty.

This thread aims to look at spreading info and news about international women's basketball, from programs to players, be it in Euro League or Australia and beyond. Teams, tournaments, games, prospects - let's hear about the ascending stars here.

[G R E Y]

Dominique Malonga. Remember that name. France is churning out great basketball prospects left and right!

Rising Star Dominique Malonga Signs with Tarbes Club, Leaves ASVEL Women

Presented for several years as the interior of the future of French basketball, Dominique Malonga (1.98 m, 17 years old) chose to leave ASVEL Women in the offseason. La Francilienne has chosen her new club. This is Tarbes Gespé-Bigorre (TGB) which also plays in the Women’s Basketball League (LFB). There, she will evolve under the orders of François Gomez, a renowned technician and trainer, and will share the racket with Isabelle Yacoubou, who has a very rich experience at the top level. Hampered by a back injury for a long time during the 2022-2023 season, the native of Yaoundé shot 6.5 points at 50% shooting success and 4 rebounds for 7.8 evaluation in 15 minutes on average in LFB.

https://www.archysport.com/2023/08/rising-star-dominique-malonga-signs-with-tarbes-club-leaves-asvel-women/

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[MrDollarBills]

Dominique Malonga. Remember that name. France is churning out great basketball prospects left and right!

Rising Star Dominique Malonga Signs with Tarbes Club, Leaves ASVEL Women

Presented for several years as the interior of the future of French basketball, Dominique Malonga (1.98 m, 17 years old) chose to leave ASVEL Women in the offseason. La Francilienne has chosen her new club. This is Tarbes Gespé-Bigorre (TGB) which also plays in the Women’s Basketball League (LFB). There, she will evolve under the orders of François Gomez, a renowned technician and trainer, and will share the racket with Isabelle Yacoubou, who has a very rich experience at the top level. Hampered by a back injury for a long time during the 2022-2023 season, the native of Yaoundé shot 6.5 points at 50% shooting success and 4 rebounds for 7.8 evaluation in 15 minutes on average in LFB.

https://www.archysport.com/2023/08/rising-star-dominique-malonga-signs-with-tarbes-club-leaves-asvel-women/

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Oh my GOD. She is quite the prospect. Look at the wingspan on her...that's a tough shot to defend if she's got you sealed on the block. I see nothing but upside here...she needs to get stronger to handle the W, but she's a baby right now.

What is going on on France? They've got like a super soldier style program for hoops or something??

[G R E Y]

Marine Fathoux highlights. Plays for ASVEL.

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Follow https://twitter.com/EuroLeagueWomen for a lot more up to date games and info.

This is a whole new world. So much going on in the women's game.

English wiki doesn't seem to have accurate/up to date info on her.

She was drafted by Liberty in 2021 but is clearly still on ASVEL despite wiki saying she was on the team 2020-2021.

Will look for better options to introduce us to new (to us) players.

For now, there's EuroLeague play:

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More info on teams and results later...

[MrDollarBills]

Marine Fathoux highlights. Plays for ASVEL.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Follow https://twitter.com/EuroLeagueWomen for a lot more up to date games and info.

This is a whole new world. So much going on in the women's game.

English wiki doesn't seem to have accurate/up to date info on her.

She was drafted by Liberty in 2021 but is clearly still on ASVEL despite wiki saying she was on the team 2020-2021.

Will look for better options to introduce us to new (to us) players.

For now, there's EuroLeague play:

Read on Twitter

More info on teams and results later...

Does the name Marine in French stand for "sick ass handles"? I sense a theme here. That hesi cross will break someone's ankles

And she was drafted by us? Where was she at this whole time, we could've used the help

This is dope. Thank you

[MrDollarBills]

https://www.youtube.com/@FFBB_officiel/featured

French League

https://www.youtube.com/EuroLeagueWomen

Women's EuroLeague

I also just read a lot of players will be in China this offseason.

[LewisnotMiller]

I'll be attending a loooot of WNBL and NBL1 games this season (top two tiers in Australia). Went to a preseason match yesterday in fact, but it was the vets who dominated that one.

Still, if anyone wants a hot take on players in Australia, let me know.

[MrDollarBills]

I'll be attending a loooot of WNBL and NBL1 games this season (top two tiers in Australia). Went to a preseason match yesterday in fact, but it was the vets who dominated that one.

Still, if anyone wants a hot take on players in Australia, let me know.

Nice. Any names to look out for?

[LewisnotMiller]

I'll be attending a loooot of WNBL and NBL1 games this season (top two tiers in Australia). Went to a preseason match yesterday in fact, but it was the vets who dominated that one.

Still, if anyone wants a hot take on players in Australia, let me know.

Nice. Any names to look out for?

If you want a real futures prediction I'd say Savannah Metcalfe, but she's just a kid, and her next step is probably to land at a US college. She's several years away from WNBA.

More immediately, I'd say Izzy Borlase is the most interesting young prospect playing over here at the highest level.

My daughter is sure that Jade Melbourne will pop if she can just work through the next year or so in the WNBA. She didn't get many minutes for Seattle, but she's still so young, and she's a gamer.

(Jade Melbourne is back playing here in the WNBA offseason for Canberra, I'll get to see her in-person in a couple of weeks - another player who has been super accommodating talking to my daughter, and generally seems just a very grounded person.)

[MrDollarBills]

I'll be attending a loooot of WNBL and NBL1 games this season (top two tiers in Australia). Went to a preseason match yesterday in fact, but it was the vets who dominated that one.

Still, if anyone wants a hot take on players in Australia, let me know.

Nice. Any names to look out for?

If you want a real futures prediction I'd say Savannah Metcalfe, but she's just a kid, and her next step is probably to land at a US college. She's several years away from WNBA.

More immediately, I'd say Izzy Borlase is the most interesting young prospect playing over here at the highest level.

My daughter is sure that Jade Melbourne will pop if she can just work through the next year or so in the WNBA. She didn't get many minutes for Seattle, but she's still so young, and she's a gamer.

(Jade Melbourne is back playing here in the WNBA offseason for Canberra, I'll get to see her in-person in a couple of weeks - another player who has been super accommodating talking to my daughter, and generally seems just a very grounded person.)

Is there any film on Metcalfe?

[LewisnotMiller]

Nice. Any names to look out for?

If you want a real futures prediction I'd say Savannah Metcalfe, but she's just a kid, and her next step is probably to land at a US college. She's several years away from WNBA.

More immediately, I'd say Izzy Borlase is the most interesting young prospect playing over here at the highest level.

My daughter is sure that Jade Melbourne will pop if she can just work through the next year or so in the WNBA. She didn't get many minutes for Seattle, but she's still so young, and she's a gamer.

(Jade Melbourne is back playing here in the WNBA offseason for Canberra, I'll get to see her in-person in a couple of weeks - another player who has been super accommodating talking to my daughter, and generally seems just a very grounded person.)

Is there any film on Metcalfe?

Not much, she's still a little off the pace. Mostly a combo of size (6'5" or so) and shooting touch at the moment, but has just started to show flashes of fluidity. So I'm projecting a lot...lol

Watch on YouTube

Nyadiew Puoch is another I should mention, and she's more aligned with someone like Izzy Borlase, in terms of age (about 19 I think). I've seen her three times in person (each time at the NBL1 level, which is our second level comp), and the first time I just figured she was good, maybe an import. Then I realised she was this kid I'd heard people talking about.

Watch on YouTube

Just FYI, our NBL1 level includes a LOT of WNBL players. Plenty of talent to go up against, although team depth is lacking compared to the top level.

[MrDollarBills]

If you want a real futures prediction I'd say Savannah Metcalfe, but she's just a kid, and her next step is probably to land at a US college. She's several years away from WNBA.

More immediately, I'd say Izzy Borlase is the most interesting young prospect playing over here at the highest level.

My daughter is sure that Jade Melbourne will pop if she can just work through the next year or so in the WNBA. She didn't get many minutes for Seattle, but she's still so young, and she's a gamer.

(Jade Melbourne is back playing here in the WNBA offseason for Canberra, I'll get to see her in-person in a couple of weeks - another player who has been super accommodating talking to my daughter, and generally seems just a very grounded person.)

Is there any film on Metcalfe?

Not much, she's still a little off the pace. Mostly a combo of size (6'5" or so) and shooting touch at the moment, but has just started to show flashes of fluidity. So I'm projecting a lot...lol

Watch on YouTube

Nyadiew Puoch is another I should mention, and she's more aligned with someone like Izzy Borlase, in terms of age (about 19 I think). I've seen her three times in person (each time at the NBL1 level, which is our second level comp), and the first time I just figured she was good, maybe an import. Then I realised she was this kid I'd heard people talking about.

Watch on YouTube

Just FYI, our NBL1 level includes a LOT of WNBL players. Plenty of talent to go up against, although team depth is lacking compared to the top level.

Puoch has some very good instincts defensively from what I can see here. Nice length too, very long arms, very soft touch in and out. I definitely am interested to see how much she can grow.

Metcalfe looks like a work in progress, but that form on her jump shot looks good, i think she needs to work on expanding her range. Defensively you can see how disruptive she can be just from this footage. Let her get some more seasoning.

[LewisnotMiller]

Is there any film on Metcalfe?

Not much, she's still a little off the pace. Mostly a combo of size (6'5" or so) and shooting touch at the moment, but has just started to show flashes of fluidity. So I'm projecting a lot...lol

Watch on YouTube

Nyadiew Puoch is another I should mention, and she's more aligned with someone like Izzy Borlase, in terms of age (about 19 I think). I've seen her three times in person (each time at the NBL1 level, which is our second level comp), and the first time I just figured she was good, maybe an import. Then I realised she was this kid I'd heard people talking about.

Watch on YouTube

Just FYI, our NBL1 level includes a LOT of WNBL players. Plenty of talent to go up against, although team depth is lacking compared to the top level.

Puoch has some very good instincts defensively from what I can see here. Nice length too, very long arms, very soft touch in and out. I definitely am interested to see how much she can grow.

Metcalfe looks like a work in progress, but that form on her jump shot looks good, i think she needs to work on expanding her range. Defensively you can see how disruptive she can be just from this footage. Let her get some more seasoning.

Yup, totally agree. Metcalfe is two years off being much of anything, but I think the potential is there.
Borlase was the other one I mentioned...here are some highlights of her, playing for our Center of Excellence team (with Puoch). Both those girls would be looking to make a big impact in our national competition this year, and start pushing for the Aussie team. They're both around 19/20.

Pretty obvious when you watch this what the key strength for Borlase is...

Watch on YouTube

[MrDollarBills]

Today I learned that Marine Johannes' nick name is "La Magicienne".

Just wanted to share that fun fact

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

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[LewisnotMiller]

Jordin Canada continues to look like absolute class whilst playing in Australia. Just does everything well. Went head to head with Aari McDonald on the weekend, who has also been on fire.

Of the WNBA relevant local talent, Jade Melbourne has been very strong, albeit playing on a bad team (Canberra).
Issy Borlase has been filling it up for Adelaide. And Analee Maley included three clutch treys in her 17pt 17reb performance against the top team (Melbourne), which might have been luck or might be indicative of her finally getting some range. Which would be huge.

[G R E Y]

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[MrDollarBills]

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I wonder if The Belgian Bomber will return next season?