Asia
The regular season finished in Japan with the top group playing Saturday-Sunday series. The Antelopes did drop a game to the Iris, but still finished five games ahead of them. The Red Wave nearly gave up the third spot after being swept by Sunflowers despite a 15 assist game from Rui Machida, but the Sunshine Rabbits failed to sweep the Wings. The Vickies had been stranded in last place for a while, but did get a split with the Magic. In the lower group, the Queen Bees got a sweep after a 30 point game from Momoko Inoue in Friday’s opener. The Rabbits won their first game of the season on Sunday to split with the Egrets. The Cougars finished strong with a five game cushion after their sweep of the Koalas.
Barsy Atyrau finished a sweep of Caspiy on Tuesday in Kazakhstan as Polina Ponkratova had 30 points. Astana swept last place Zhetisu in a Tuesday-Wednesday series, getting 33 points from Tamara Kuzmina to close out the series. They followed that up with a Saturday-Sunday sweep of Okzhetpes to increase their lead in the standings, getting 20 rebounds from Ganna Rulyova in the opener.
The week of games in South Korea started with a decisive Blue Minx win over first place Hana Bank on Wednesday. The Stars had a strong second half to defeat Woori Bank on Friday. Hana Bank bounced back on Saturday with an overtime win over BNK and then the Blue Minx defeated the S-Birds. BNK also had to play overtime on Sunday as they ran out of steam giving up 42 points to Kim Dan-Bi as Woori Bank left with the win. The top two teams met on Monday and the Stars pulled even with Hana Bank after a win.
There was another Friday-Saturday-Sunday pod in Taiwan ahead of a holiday break and Cathay Life swept their games again to now lead by six games in the standings. Chunghwa Telecom is still in second place above Taipower and Taiyuan Textile, but lost two games in this pod. Hsiao Yu-Wen had another 20 rebound game.
Homenetmen and Al Riyadi continue to be undefeated in Lebanon although Beirut provided a challenge to both teams this week. Mtayleb is still stuck on the fewest wins despite getting 34 points from Aliyah Matharu in one game. Rebounds were the story when it came to individual statlines as Aminata Ly and Chyna Cornwell had 21 rebound games while Alexa Hart reached the 20 board mark.
The pod of games in Saudi Arabia concluded this week with teams in action on Tuesday and Wednesday. The winner of the final group would finish the stage undefeated and it took overtime before Al Ula could get the victory over Al Qadsiah despite 35 points from Delicia Washington. Kwanza Murray had the biggest scoring game, following up a 34 point effort with a 53 point outburst. That secured a win after Taylor Jones had 45 points and 23 rebounds for the opposition, following her 38 point game. Ksenia Korobkova also had a 33 point game.
Americas
Ferro lost their first game in Argentina so Chanares from the North conference is the only undefeated team now. That opened the door for Obras to move into a tie in the South, but they lost to Berazategui to remain a game back. Regina Carosio had a 23 point, 12 rebound, 10 assist triple-double then her teammate Stefania Lucero returned to the lineup and delivered 30 points. Luciana De La Barba had the highest scoring game with 34 points to secure a win in double-overtime.
Both series in Mexico were on the traditional Saturday-Sunday format and Mieleras remained undefeated with a sweep of Toritas. Mineras picked up their first two wins of the season with a sweep of Dragonas.
Around Europe
The regular season finished in the Adriatic as Buducnost finished a game ahead of Montana in standings with both teams getting a bye while the other four teams start the playoffs. Jovana Popovic had 39 points in an overtime win in Serbia. Arbnore Perquku dished out 15 assists in the unified competition featuring teams from Albania and Kosovo. Audrey Jennings had 31 points in Kosovo’s domestic league.
Sparta Bertrange defeated Dudelange to win the cup in Luxembourg. It was also the end of the cup in Iceland as Ana Paz had 34 points in a semifinal loss on Wednesday. The championship game on Saturday saw Keishana Washington score 36 points to secure the trophy for Keflavik over Grindavik. Olivia Wikstrom had 31 points in a cup game in Malta.
Chase for Promotion
Dre’Una Edwards had a tremendous solo effort in Turkey’s second division with 36 points to secure a win as Brittany Byrd had the next highest scoring game with 30 points. Linda Van Schaik had 21 rebounds in Spain’s second division. In Serbia’s second division, Natasa Bucevac had 33 points and Marija Trisovic had 30 points. In Portugal’s second division, Tiffany Reynolds had 31 points, Hannah Pratt had 40 points, and Trinity Hudson had 20 rebounds. Goda Vasurenkaite had a 13 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in Lithuania’s second division and Laurita Jurciute had a 30 point game. Neseya Williams had 33 points in Germany’s second division and Cecelia Collins had 31 points in the other half.
Notable Individual Performances
Alisa Yagodka-Borchan had a 21 rebound game in Ukraine. In Switzerland, Maimouna Ba had 31 points and Koi Love had 30 points. Jewel Spear had a 32 point game in Sweden. Viktoriia Rostotska grabbed 21 rebounds in Slovakia. Evan Miller had 40 points in Portugal and her teammate Carolina Anacleto dished out 15 assists. Selma Deisz had a 32 point game in Norway. Kiandra Brown had a 40 point game in the Netherlands. Shyanne Sellers had a 31 point game in Israel. In the British league, Andrea Daley and Jo Langbehn each had 33 points. Summah Evans had 32 points in Germany. Lauren Heard had a 30 point game in Finland. Ida Westphall had 31 points in a loss in Denmark. Aliyah Kenny had 20 rebounds in Belgium. Sina Hollerl had a 30 point game in Austria.
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