The 2016-17 DODEA-Europe basketball season got off to a rollicking start last Friday and Saturday, and this weekend’s slate appears to hold more of the same.
The opening two days of the regular season featured some remarkable individual performances. Among the most notable were a 10-point, 11-rebound, 10-block triple-double by Bitburg’s Elise Rasmussen, a combined 54 points, 27 rebounds, 15 assists and 16 steals in two wins by Marymount’s Dominic Laffitte, a 28-point outing by SHAPE’s Cameron Little and the offensive dominance of Aviano’s Tiana Link, who scored 38 of her team’s 44 points in a weekend doubleheader.
The early winter action also included a pair of dramatic overtime games Friday night, namely Sigonella’s 42-39 girls upset of Vicenza and Black Forest Academy’s triple-overtime triumph over the Wiesbaden boys, and each game’s resilient loser recovering to even the series with wins in Saturday’s rematches.
Given all that, this weekend’s games have a lot to live up to, but the schedule offers several appealing matchups.
At the Division I level, defending boys and girls champion Ramstein faces Wiesbaden in a home-and-home set Friday evening. The Royals took a combined three of four games from Vilseck to open the season, while Wiesbaden dropped three of four to tough Division II outfit Black Forest Academy.
Vilseck, meanwhile, visits Stuttgart in another of the weekend’s key large-school clashes, which also includes Kaiserslautern’s visit to SHAPE and Naples’ trip to Italian archrival Vicenza.
The schedule also holds quality matchups within the smaller divisions. American Overseas School of Rome and host Aviano will battle for an early edge in Division II postseason seeding, while Alconbury visits Baumholder for what promises to be an instructive battle of perennial Division III powers.
A Dec. 13 intracity matchup between Brussels and International School of Brussels wraps up the 2016 portion of the 2016-17 schedule. Play resumes after the holiday break on Jan. 6.
Twitter: @broomestripes
