Mystics Assistant Coach Eric Thibault blogs about his trip overseas

PART 2

We pick up where we left off in Edirne, Turkey…

Friday, the day after the big EuroCup win, Coach T and I visited the famous Selimiye mosque that towers at the top of Edirne’s main hill. Hearing the 5-times-daily calls to prayer around the city was certainly a new experience for me. In the evening we met Ivory and Stef, as well as the team’s coach and president for dinner. It didn’t take Coach T long to start talking X’s and O’s with his Turkish counterpart, even getting the salt and pepper shakers into motion to simulate pick and roll defense.

Oh, and did I mention it was Stef’s birthday? She thought she got off nice and easy with a quiet dinner, but the team president steered us to a restaurant next door where the rest of the team waited with a big cake. I may have snuck a piece myself, unconfirmed.

Saturday we sat in on a team practice as Edirne prepared to face Turkish power Fenerbahce the next day. It was a pretty quick affair, with the highlight being the coach explaining his impending absence on the sideline for Sunday’s game. Apparently, being ejected from a game (as he had been in their last league game) means you also get to spend the next contest in the stands. At first I thought this sounded like a nice opportunity for Marianne Stanley and I to potentially coach a Mystics game, but then I realized that would mean Coach T yelling instructions from 10 rows behind the bench. You know, like all of you guys! The four of us ate together Saturday night and had a more private talk about our hopes and expectations for the upcoming season. Both Stef and Ivory are excited to return and build on the chemistry this group has developed over the past couple years.

Sunday and the arrival of Fenerbahce brought an even crazier atmosphere to Edirne’s arena. And by crazier atmosphere, I mean riot police were called into action to separate the home crowd from the visiting Fenerbahce supporters. Edirne held tough with the league leaders but fell 86-71 after a second half run by Fener, who has real firepower in the form of Allie Quigley, Marissa Coleman, Jantel Lavender, and Quanitra Hollingsworth. Being able to make Quanitra a Turkish citizen and having no salary cap really works wonders!

After saying our goodbyes – the next time we see Ivory and Stef will be for training camp – it was back to Istanbul to begin the journey home. We were fortunate enough to make it out of the city before the bombing in the main tourist area of town, which happened the following morning. Luckily none of our players were in Istanbul at the time. We continue to keep our fingers crossed for their health and safety, both on and off the court.

Until next time Mystics fans, thanks for reading!

-Coach E

PART 1

Hello Mystics Fans!

I hope everybody is having a great 2016 so far – Mystics’ season is right around the corner! I wanted to take a minute to fill you in on a trip Coach T and I made this past week, something you observant social media followers might have already noticed. We headed across the Atlantic to check in on a few of our players currently competing in Europe. First stop: Brussels, Belgium – and surprisingly, not to see Emma (she’s in Moscow, as you know – somehow we missed out on Moscow in January, bummer). LaToya Sanders’ Turkish club from Kayseri faced off against Castors Braine, the top Belgian club, in EuroLeague group play. LaToya played great, scoring 22 points on 9-12 shooting, but fell to an improved Castors team featuring former WNBA players Ann Wauters and Sidney Spencer. The good news is that Kayseri (a.k.a. Abdullah Gul – European team names are complicated) is still in good position to advance to the knockout rounds of EuroLeague – we will all be following their progress closely. Between the overnight flight, the jet lag, and the 8:30 pm tip-off, both Thibaults were a little wiped out by the end of the back-and-forth game.

But no time to complain! The journey continued East and South to Turkey, currently home to five of your Mystics now that Tierra Ruffin-Pratt has begun play for Orduspor. We landed in Istanbul before hitting the road back towards Europe to Edirne, Turkey, just kilometers from the Greek and Bulgarian borders. We were there to see Tall and Small, a.k.a. Big Mama and Big Mouth, a.k.a Stefanie Dolson and Ivory Latta. We arrived just in time to make it to their EuroCup game against Basket Landes from France. This was a big-time affair; this season is only Edirne’s second in the Turkish top league, and it is their first time competing in EuroCup. This game against Basket Landes was the first of a two-game series, with the winner being decided by combined score of the two games. Can you imagine that for the WNBA playoffs! Too much math. Anyway, the atmosphere in Edirne’s 1,500-seat arena was electric, with the fans right on top of the court and protesting every call from the officials, which warmed my heart. It’s fair to say this was the biggest game of the season from the perspective of the club – they want to make a real impression in their first EuroCup campaign. Fortunately, our girls delivered. Neither had huge scoring nights – 10 points and 5 assists for Ivory, 8 points and 8 boards for Stef – but they drew the attention of the defense and were able to find teammates for wide open shots. It was great to see both of them looking in terrific shape and playing with real competitive fire. It should come as no surprise that Ivory made her way into the crowd to celebrate following the 68-61 victory. Speaking of no surprise, our favorite purple-haired center was, of course, in charge of the post-game selfies. Halfway across the world, same Stef and Ivory. Post-game the four of us headed to grab some dinner and a restaurant called – and I’m not making this up – Big Mamma’s. Ivory seemed to know everybody working there and got us a nice table and some food to celebrate their victory.

Check back soon for PART 2!