Along with Belarus, Latvia were the darlings of EuroBasket Women 2007 marching all the way to the semi-finals before losing to Russia and then Belarus to fall just short of the medal podium.  Their undisputed leader from start to finish was Jekabsone-Zagota who came up with big shot after big shot on her way to an average of 17.2 points and 3.2 assists per game.  Though injuries ended up keeping her from contributing as she would have liked in her team’s final game the 24-year-old was named to the all-tournament team.  At club level she led Dynamo Moscow to the EuroCup Women championship, averaging 15.3 points, 2.1 steals and 2.9 assists per game.

One of the biggest names in all of Europe, Ann Wauters has had as much success domestically as anyone of any gender.  Wauters has been to seven consecutive EuroLeague Final Fours but this summer her focus was on the national team as Belgium entered EuroBasket Women 2007 with, what many people thought, was a legitimate chance to challenge the traditional powers for a spot on the podium.  With Wauters help the Belgians got off to a strong start, winning their first four games on the trot.  Wauters team then lost four straight, though two of the losses were by three points or less and they were despite and not because of Wauters efforts as she averaged 22 points and 9.3 rebounds in that span.

If you gave an award for passion and fire Amaya Valdemoro would win hands down, regardless of gender or maybe even sport.  Spain had finished third in the last two EuroBasket Women and hoped to take at least one, if not two steps up on the podium and the 1.83m forward was just the person to lead them there.  Valdemoro averaged 15.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game for the tournament and nearly led her team to the gold medal before falling just short in a final game loss to Russia.  For club side CSKA Moscow, Valdemoro was a key cog for a team that finished third in the competition where she was her teams second-leading scorer.

Natallia Marchanka is not going to wow you with her stat-line but anyone who watched Belarus’ march to the bronze medal at this year’s EuroBasket Women knows how important she was to their success.  Marchanka was the sparkplug for Belarus and though she only twice scored in double-digits her consistency was impressive, shooting 59% from two-point range and 52% on three-pointers while sinking 81% of her chances from the free-throw line.  Domestically Natallia plays in the Russian Superleague for Dynamo-Energiya Novosibirsk where she averaged nearly 10 points and, four assists and two steals per game.