The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

JONQUEL Jones had another successful WNBA offseason as her team captured the EuroLeague women’s championship.

Jones’ UMMC Ekaterinburg, of the Russian Premier League, won their second consecutive and fifth EuroLeague title with a 91-67 win over Dynamo Kursk in Sopron, Hungary.

Jones appeared in eight games with 19.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. She shot 60 per cent from the field, 52 per cent from three-point range and 80 per cent from the free throw line.

A stacked UMMC Ekaterinburg roster also included WNBA stars Brittney Griner and Courtney Vandersloot.

Jones joined the defending Euroleague champions in the offseason following her third year with the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun.

Back in the WNBA the Sun have also reportedly exercised 4th year team options on Jones in September.

Jones was named the 2018 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year, earning the honour as the league’s top reserve for the first time in her three-year career.

She averaged 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, a career-high 1.7 assists and 1.24 blocked shots per game last season.

She tied for ninth in the WNBA in blocks and ranked fifth in field goal percentage (55.0) and second in three-point field goal percentage (46.7). With 50 three-pointers made, she surpassed her total from the previous two seasons combined (36).

During the Sun’s 9-1 finish to the season, Jones averaged 18.5 points and 6.6 rebounds. That stretch included four games of 20 or more points.

In the season prior, she was voted as the 2017 WNBA Most Improved Player, becomes the first player to win both the Sixth Woman and Most Improved awards.

In honour of being named the WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year, Jones will receive $5,000 and a specially designed trophy by Tiffany and Co.

Last offseason in China, Jones became one of the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association’s most dominant players and led her Shanxi Xing Rui Flames to a runners-up finish in the final.

The star forward averaged a team-high 29.3 points, 18.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists over 31 games for Shanxi Xing Rui.

In the 2016 offseason, Jones was selected No. 5 overall by Woori Bank in the Korean Basketball League and led the team to a championship title.

On the season she averaged 15.8 points, 14.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks - all team leads - in 24 minutes per game for Woori Bank in 38 games.

At the league’s award ceremony, Jones earned the Foreign Most Valuable Player Award, Defensive Player of the Year award and was named “Best Five” in the league.

UMMC Ekanterinburg has won four Euroleague, 12 Russian titles and eight Russian Cups in team history. In addition to Jones, UMMC Ekanterinburg includes Brittney Griner and Kayla McBride.