Strautmane's Sleza Wroclaw lose to Mersin in Turkey at start of EuroCup Women

On Thursday, 15 October, the first-round games of EuroCup Women, a women's basketball club competition in Europe ranked below the EuroLeague, continued. Poland's Sleza Wroclaw, with Latvian player Digna Strautmane on the roster, lost 72-59 away to favourites Mersin in Turkey.

The Polish side stayed within a small margin for almost the entire game but fell away at the finish. The team, coached by Arkadiusz Rusin, was hurt by turnovers: it committed 20 against the opponent's 11, according to the source, twice as many.

Strautmane's performance

Digna Strautmane spent 19 minutes and one second on court. She made two steals, blocked one shot and posted the best plus-minus on her team, +5. The Wroclaw big player, however, missed all six of her three-point attempts.

The opponent

Turkish club Mersin reached the EuroLeague Final Four three years in a row: in 2023 it lost the final to Fenerbahce, and in 2024 and 2025 it lost the bronze-medal game and the final against USK Praha. Six months ago the team won its first European trophy, beating Athens' Athinaikos 160-157 on aggregate in the European Cup final. A week ago Mersin lost at home to Fenerbahce in the SuperCup Women.

This season the Turkish squad includes Jessica Thomas, a former point guard of Riga's TTT, as well as world vice-champion Karla Leite, Kennedy Burke, Alina Iagupova, Kariata Diabi and Carly Samuelson.

Competition format

Teams were drawn into 12 groups of four, and each will play six games home and away. The top two in each group, four of the best third-placed teams and four EuroLeague teams that finish fourth in their groups will advance to the knockout stage. Every knockout round is decided on aggregate over two games. The final is scheduled for 1 and 8 April.