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UNIQA Euroleasing Sopron was not a good team in 2011/12 – they failed to make it out of a group which had 2 Final Eight participants and the least amount of teams vying for a place in the playoffs.
They were the worst three point shooting team of the league, connecting on 22% of their attempts. They also averaged the least amount of rebounds per game, but that has more to do with the pace of their games – they were outrebounded by just one rebound per game on average. There just aren’t that much rebounds available in their games.
Still Sopron’s rebounding likely took a hit during the offseason as they lost their top rebounder in Dora Horti. Tijana Krivacevic not returning after being loaned to Rivas Ecopolis, has not helped that issue either. Signing Latvian center Anita Teilane was supposed to address that issue, but she has been spending most of the close Hungarian league games on the bench. That doesn’t bode well for prospects of her addressing the rebounding void. Outside of Sara Krnjic, most impactful rebounders will have to be forwards/wings Jelena Milovanovic and Shenise Johnson – the other two offseason signings outside of Teilane.
Milovanovic and Johnson will be essential not only in rebounding, but also scoring. Depending on how well she will adapt to three point line that is further than in the NCAA and WNBA, Shenise Johnson could offer Sopron improvement in outside shooting in her international pro debut. With her experience at University of Miami where she averaged over 17 points per game in her career, Johnson knows how to handle being the go-to player.
Jelena Milovanovic will look to regain her scoring prowess with Sopron which she possessed with this team before moving to Sparta&K, where she was more of a secondary player to the American stars on that team. Her scoring went down from 15 ppg in her last season with Sopron to 8 ppg in the next season with Sparta&K and 6 ppg last season. Judging by the early round scores of Hungarian league, she’s back on track in that regard. That’s huge because the team lost Oleksandra Kurasova, who was an important figure on the wings for the team, during the offseason.
Zsofia Fegyverneky had a breakout season last year in terms of being a facilitator, not just a scorer. With average of 4.3 assists and 2.5 turnovers last season, she finally eclipsed her career assist-to-turnover ratio of 1. Further improvement would be very welcome for this Sopron team with two legit scoring threats on the wings and Sara Krnjic inside.
Being in a group with Targoviste and Arras, Sopron will have a legitimate opportunity to return to playoffs. Schio and Kosice are not unbeatable, either, so it’s all up to themselves to determine how long their season will be in Europe.
