From EuroLeague Women qualifiers to the SuperCup Women title, hoops season is heating up on the continent

After two legs of qualifying games, Casademont Zaragoza, DVTK HUNTHERM, Galatasaray Cagdas Faktoring, Tango Bourges Basket and Umana Reyer Venezia earned spots in the 2025-26 EuroLeague Women competition

The 16-team field is now set, with clubs divided in four groups of four for the first round of group play.

Here’s a quick recap of some of the highlights from the second leg of qualifiers, with some special attention to players and teams that failed to make the competition, followed by a short recap of SuperCup Women:

Glorious comebacks lead to no surprises

The team that got the closest to progressing, despite losing both games, was KKZ Crvena Zvezda. The Serbians would be the favorites playing against almost any other team, but unluckily they drew Umana Reyer Venezia, a club that should make it far in the competition. In the second game, former Texas A&M Aggie Khaalia Hillsman stepped up and grabbed 13 of her team’s 22 boards, while adding 15 points. Serbian forward Mina Đorđević kept her team in the game, scoring game-high 21 points.

The three-point win wasn’t enough for Lublin to feel safe against DVTK and the EuroLeague mainstays overpowered the Poles by 18 points, getting up by double digits in the second quarter and never letting go. The three bright spots for Lublin were Laura Gil, Robbi Ryan and Markeisha Gatling—the only three players who fired over two shots and made at least half of them. Gil must be particularly disappointed, as the Spanish vet moved to Poland to play a prominent role on a winning team, yet will not get the opportunity to play in the EuroLeague this season.

Kamile Nacickaite Van der Horst was again flawless for Kibirkštis-TOKS with 19 points on 60 percent accuracy and making 83 percent from the line, but apart from Japreece Dean, who chipped in 21 points, she had little help. The rest of the team scored the same amount of points as Van Der Horst, which is telling about the Lithuanians’ scoring woes, resulting in a 89-59 loss. That meant that, despite winning the first game against Tango Basket Bourges by 11 points, they failed to advance. Zaragoza likewise lost their first game only to secure a spot in the competition with ease. After losing the first game to Žabiny Brno by 21 points, an 82-59 win in the second contest sent them into group play.

Below are the scores from the second leg of games, with the teams that advanced to the group stage in bold:

• Casademont Zaragoza 82, Žabiny Brno 59
• Umana Reyer Venezia 70, KKZ Crvena Zvezda 63
• Galatasaray Cagdas Faktoring 86, ACS Spesi-SIC 46
• DVTK HUNTHERM 77, UMCS Lublin 59
• Tango Bourges 89, Kibirkštis-TOKS 59

Praha tops Villenueve for SuperCup Women title

On Tuesday afternoon, the 2025-26 winners of the EuroLeague, ZVVZ USK Praha, and the EuroCup, Villenueve d’Ascq LM, played for European supremacy in Villeneuve d’ Ascq. The homecourt advantage proved not to be enough for the French team to succeed against the Czech side, which prevailed 86-77 to win the club’s second SuperCup title.

The reigning EuroCup champs no longer are led by Rachid Meziane, who left his post with Villenueve d’Ascq to become the head coach of the Connecticut Sun. The club remains organized around the backcourt of Ameryst Alston and Alexis Peterson; Alston scored a team-high 16 points on Tuesday, while Peterson added 11 points. The expected star of the team Alexia Chery, who put her career on hold last season to spend time with her family and is now back on the court with a refreshed attitude and perspective on life, struggled in the losing effort, scoring just eight points on 33 percent shooting.

The reigning EuroLeague champs feature pretty much the same roster when it comes to the backcourt and the wings, with Maite Cazorla projected to serve as the primary ball handler. However, as she was inactive on Tuesday, Pauline Aster provided the backcourt punch for Praha, earning game MVP honors for her 17-point and 15-assist double-double.

In the frontcourt, the departures of Ezi Magbegor and Brionna Jones leave big shoes to fill, which means that the scoring burden will again fall on the shoulders of Valeriane Ayayi. She was up for it on Tuesday, matching Aster’s 17 points while adding five boards and four assists. Golden State Valkyrie All-Rookie standout Janelle Salaün has joined the club. Unlike Magbegor and Jones, Salaün is a finesse player and a floor-stretcher, which will require Praha to adjust their strategies accordingly. She did not score efficiently in her debut, with nine points on less than 30 percent shooting.