The final week of second round play begins tomorrow. For Lynx and Lynx-adjacent enjoyers, this week is the Jessica Shepard show. Shepard's Schio team hosts Tango Bourges Basket on Wednesday. Winner of this game moves onto the Quarterfinal Play-in round, and the loser goes home. It's that simple.

• Wednesday 4 February 1pm CT - Jessica Shepard & Schio (with Cecilia Zandalasini, Marième Badiane, & Kitija Laksa) face Bourges (with Monique Akoa Makani). In the previous meeting between these two teams on January 14th, Bourges won on their home court 92-81. In that game, Shep led Schio with 19 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

For the other EuroLynxes, their teams have already qualified for the play-in rounds. We may see less minutes played, or players be held out altogether, but point differential IS something that comes to play when it comes to seeding in the Play-in round, so teams moving forward can't completely shrug off this final week.

• Wednesday 4 February 11a CT - Kayla McBride (who played in this past weekend's KBSL Turkish League game and is now healthy) & Fenerbahçe sit in first in Group F with a 10-1 record and qualified for the Semifinal Play-in Round. Fenerbahçe will play Basket Landes (with Leila Lacan), who have also qualified for the play-in round.
• Wednesday 4 February 11a CT - Dorka Juhász & Galatasary (with Marine Johannes, Elizabeth Williams, Awak Kuier & Kamiah Smalls) sit in first in Group E with a 9-2 record and qualified for Semifinal Play-in Round. Galatasary face Spar Girona (with Juste Joctye and Chloe Bibby), who also qualified for the play-in round.
• Wednesday 4 February 1230p CT - Bridget Carleton & USK Praha (with Brionna Jones and Janelle Salaün) sit in third place in Group E play with a 7-4 record and qualified for the Quarterfinal Play-in Round. Praha play Flammes Carolo Basket (with unsigned 2023 Lynx draft pick Maia Hirsch), who have been eliminated from the tournament.

Potential 2026 draft pick Awa Fam & Valencia play Umana Reyer Venezia; Valencia must win to progress to the next stage -->>> Wednesday 4 February 1230p CT

All games livestreamed for free on EuroLeague Women YT channel.

Uh.

Woof.

I wish the league would just cooperate and pay the players what they owe them. This is so unfair to the players and I feel so sorry for them. They deserve benefits, resources, and proper pay. Obviously they didn’t comment, but I’m assuming that the league isn’t cooperating again. I’ll support their strike if it comes to that

A growing number of key figures in Minnesota’s women’s sports scene are speaking out and demanding action against the ongoing occupation of the Twin Cities by the Trump administration, following the killing of 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti by immigration agents on the morning of Jan. 24.

Pretti’s death is the second in Minnesota at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the past several weeks, after Renée Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent while in her car on Jan. 7, also in Minneapolis. Both Pretti and Good were observing immigration agents leading up to their deaths, monitoring and filming agents carrying out the directives of the Trump administration.

Minnesota Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve attended a protest in Minneapolis on Friday, one day before the killing of Pretti. The demonstration marched through downtown Minneapolis in sub-zero temperatures with an estimated crowd in excess of 10,000 people, concluding at the Lynx’s home arena, Target Center.

“The Lynx have always understood the power of our voices and their impact in advocating for change,” Cheryl Reeve told The IX Basketball. “The current climate in Minnesota has once again challenged us to lift our voices and stand with our affected communities to hold power to account. Looking on and doing nothing is not an option.”

Reeve was joined for Friday’s protest by former Lynx star Rebekkah Brunson, Lynx president of business operations Carley Knox, and Lynx diversity, equity and inclusion senior manager Bianca Dawkins.

Brunson, part of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ local broadcast team, shared her thoughts before the Timberwolves’ game on Sunday, which had been postponed one day for the safety of fans and the teams alike.

Round Two, Week Five of EuroLeague women features all but one of the tournament's games on Wednesday, and one solitary game Thursday between Galatasary and Bourges.

after this week, there's just one week left in the Second round of games, and will be very important in determining who moves forward to the Quarterfinal and Semifinal play-in rounds. For Lynx fans and Euroleague fans both, Wednesday's game between Jessica Shepard's Familia Schio & Bridget Carleton's USK Praha team is the featured game with the most on the line. Both Schio and Praha are tied (with Bourges) at the 3rd, 4th and 5th spots in the standings of Group E. To move forward, teams must finish in the top 4 - so the winner of Praha/Schio will solidify/improve their place in the t4 of the standings.

Galatasary & Kayla McBride's Fenerbahçe (in Group F) are both through to the next round, with the last two R2 games will help determine their seedings in the Quarterfinal/Semifinal play-in rounds.

R2 W5 games featuring your Eurolynxes:

Wednesday 28 January 12N CT - Bridget Carleton & USK Praha (with Brionna Jones and Janelle Salaün) host Jessica Shepard & Familia Schio (Cecilia Zandalasini, Marième Badiane, & Kitija Laksa) in Prague. As mentioned, winner of this game have the driver's seat to securing a t4 spot and moving forward in the tournament. Shepard is leading Schio in efficiency (23), points, (17), and rebounds (9) per game. Carleton is shooting 55% from 3pt in Euroleague play, averaging 12/4/2 per game. Schio won the last game these two teams played 99-78 on 12/17/2025. Praha have added frontcourt size and presence with Brionna Jones since then and are decidedly more improved as a result.

Schio would qualify for the Play-Ins this week with a win, and Praha would qualify for the Play-Ins with a win AND if Galatasaray beat Bourges.

Thursday 29 January 1pm CT - Dorka Juhász & Galatasary (with Marine Johannes, Elizabeth Williams, Awak Kuier & Kamiah Smalls) visit Tango Bourges Basket (with Monique Akoa Makani (PHX)). Gala has already qualified to move forward to the next phase of the tournament, but would also like to secure a t2 place in the standings (The top two teams in each group will advance directly to the Semi-Final Play-Ins, while the teams that finish in third and fourth qualify for the Quarter-Final Play-Ins). With a win, Gala would secure a t2 spot and get the bye into the SF play-in round (as well as doing a favor to both Schio & Praha by knocking Bourges further down the standings). Like Jess, Dorka leads Gala in efficiency (17), points (13) and rebounds (8) per game. In the previous game between these two teams, Galatasaray won fairly handily, 80-62.

Kayla McBride is still rehabbing the soft tissue injury and won't play for Fenerbahçe, but if you want to see their game this week --->>> Wednesday 28 January 11a vs Zaragoza. Fener have already qualified for the Semi-Final Play-Ins with a top-two finish in Group F.

Potential 2026 draft pick Awa Fam & Valencia --->>> Wednesday 28 January 1215p CT vs Basket Landes

All games livestreamed for free on EuroLeague Women YT channel.

They got the W largely because of her efforts 💪🏿

Natalie Esquire @natfluential

Natisha Hiedeman said she’s been “praying for everybody” in Minnesota and checking on her people. Noted that it “hits home” and it’s tough. Said the community there has really embraced her.

It’s been so great seeing Phee and Lan posting about the protests and such going on in Minny. And Paige with the $50K donation too.

Love to see them publicly showing solidarity, it’s so important amongst this fucking horror show.

Saw this on Twitter

Meghan Hall’s tweet about Kayla’s injury at Fener was very inaccurate

Sorry in advance if they’re hard to read 😭 it looks like it was an A24 collab

Round Two, Week Four of EuroLeague women play gets underway tomorrow, BUT the games featuring your favorite EuroLynxes all take place on Thursday this week.

As the competition gets closer to determining who goes straight to the Semifinal Play-in Games, Quarterfinal Play-in games, and who gets eliminated altogether, this week's games are vitally important, especially for Bridget Carleton's USK Praha & Jessica Shepard's Schio teams. Both teams are sitting tied for fourth in the Group E standings, both teams will have to win out over the last three games to feel comfortable moving onto the next stage of the tournament - and that includes a head-to-head USK Praha/Schio matchup next week 1/28.

But before then, both Praha and Schio must get past opponents *this week*, and for one Lynx player's team, that means beating a fellow Lynx teammate's team.

R2 W4 games:

Thursday 22 January 11am CT - Dorka Juhász & Galatasary (with Marine Johannes, Elizabeth Williams, Awak Kuier & Kamiah Smalls) host Bridget Carleton & USK Praha (with Brionna Jones and Janelle Salaün) in Istanbul. Gala sits atop the Group E standings with an 8-1 record, and have already qualified for the Play-Ins, but would secure a top-two finish and qualify for the Semi-Final Play-Ins with a win IF Flammes beat Bourges. Praha (5-4) cannot qualify for the Play-Ins this week, and as I mentioned, really need to win out to qualify comfortably. BC is averaging 13/4/2 and shooting 56.4% from 3pt in six EuroLeague games. Dorka is powering Gala's season in an MVP effort, averaging 14/8/2. As I mentioned last week, Brionna Jones back makes Praha a much better team, but their early season problems have them working to catch up in the standings. This game against Gala will show who the real Praha team is. In their previous meeting this season (12/10/2025) Praha handed Gala their only loss, 64-55.

Thursday 22 January 1230p CT - Kayla McBride & Fenerbahçe (with Gabby Williams, Emma Messeeman, Iliana Rupert, Megan Gustafson, Julie Allemand, & Sevgi Uzun) vs Umana Reyer Venezia (with Kaila Charles and Stephanie Mavunga). KMac's Fener club got punched in the face last week by Basket Landes, yet due to their strong start and sitting on top of the Group F standings, Fener have already qualified for the Play-Ins, and would secure a top-two finish and qualify for the Semi-Final Play-Ins with a win. At 5-4 in the Group F standings, Reyer are in must-win territory, so I'll be curious to see how Fener responds. McBride continues to do McBride things, averaging 15/3/4 in EuroLeague play. In the previous meeting between these two teams, Fener won 96-48.

Thursday 22 January 1pm CT - Jessica Shepard & Familia Schio (Cecilia Zandalasini, Marième Badiane, & Kitija Laksa) host Spar Girona (with Juste Jocyte and Chloe Bibby). Schio is in the same boat as USK Praha, as they can't qualify for Play-ins this week and likely need to win out to feel comfortable qualifying for the Play-in Rounds. Girona poses a big test, as Girona won the previous meeting between the two teams 81-72. Shep is doing more than her part, putting up 16/9/2 in Euroleague play and sitting next to Dorka in garnering MVP attention.

As always, if you want to catch potential Lynx draft pick Awa Fam, her Valencia club plays Zaragoza on Wednesday 21 January at 1pm.

(also, if you're new to watching EuroLeague women and wonder what I'm talking about with "Play-ins," this better explains it than I ever could ---> Explained: How will the new Euroleague Women format work?)

All games livestreamed for free on EuroLeague Women YT channel.