ORENBURG (EuroLeague Women) – Fans in Orenburg are looking forward to watching a new-look Nadezhda team after the Russian club outlined their plans for the 2017-18 EuroLeague Women season.

Having previously confirmed that incoming head coach Maros Kovacik was replacing the now departed Roberto Iniguez, it isn't only the Slovakian playcaller who will be a fresh face in the locker room.

The likes of Elena Beglova, Tiffany Mitchell, Tatiana Petrushina, Natalia Zhedik, Cristina Ouvina, Amanda Zahui and Elizabeth Williams won't be returning.

With only Anastasia Shilova and Zhosselina Maiga providing any significant continuity, they will be joined by seven players who will make their respective debuts.

Once again, Nadezhda will continue their recent tradition of utilizing a Spanish point guard, with veteran Sandra Ygueravide coming in via Wisla Can-Pack and picking up the baton from her compatriots Anna Cruz and Cristina Ouvina.

She will be joined in the backcourt by Alexandria Bentley, a WNBA star who has been naturalized by Belarus and is set to play a major role at FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017.

She will add a real injection of scoring power, as well as creativity.

Meanwhile the versatile Emma Cannon knows Russia well after impressing with Chevakata and the WNBA forward will record a belated debut in EuroLeague Women, having previously excelled in EuroCup Women during a number of seasons at TSV 1880 Wasserburg.

The remainder of the new additions to the roster are Russian and arguably headlined by Ksenia Tikhonenko who has had a phenomenal couple of seasons at Dynamo Moscow where she has absolutely smashed it on the glass and established herself as one of the best rebounders in the Premier League.

Mariia Cherepanova will also land in the frontcourt from UMMC Ekaterinburg, Yana Degtyarskaya switches from MBA Moscow and Ekaterina Fedorenkova comes back home to Russia after playing in Liga Femenina last year at both Mann Filter Zaragoza and Bembibre.

Nadezhda finished third in the Russian Premier League behind UMMC and Dynamo Kursk and were edged out of a place in the EuroLeague Women Final Four by ZVVZ USK Prague.

FIBA