Asia
The finals in South Korea started on Wednesday with the Stars getting the win. They doubled their advantage on Friday, leaving the Blue Minx needing a win on Sunday to avoid the sweep. They could not take care of business, leaving the Stars as champions even though they were missing a key player at the end of the season.
Kalani Brown had 34 points on Wednesday to help Shanxi force a deciding game in the finals in China on Saturday. They were thought to have the advantage in that game at home with their opponent missing foreign players. Sichuan’s domestic core stepped up and the team got the win, reclaiming the championship after a tough finish last season at this stage.
The playoffs started in Taiwan with Chunghwa Telecom defeating Taiyuan Textile on both Thursday and Saturday for a sweep.
Americas
The playoffs in Argentina continued with the conclusion of the quarterfinals. It was nearly a complete sweep for the teams from the South conference, but Chanares bounced back from their first loss of the season to join Obras, Ferro, and El Talar.
The week in Mexico started with a game on Wednesday that saw Yvonne Turner record a 13 point, 11 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in Chihuahua’s win, but Monterrey earned a split the next day. The rest of the series were on a Thursday-Friday format and Irapuato had a narrow sweep of Tamaulipas. Aguascalientes salvaged a split against Cancun. San Luis Potosi finished the week with a sweep of Leon.
The week in Brazil started with a game on Tuesday that saw Campinas win at Uninassau. There were two games on Wednesday as Araraquara shook off a slow start and got the win over Cerrado while Sao Jose’s strong first half got them a win over Maringa. Campinas cruised past Salvador on Thursday. There were a couple of days without a game to mark the end of the first round-robin, but Mesquita edged Maringa to win the first game of the second half of the season on Sunday. Uninassau defeated Salvador in Monday’s game.
The week in El Salvador started with San Salvador getting 20 rebounds from Anisleidy Galindo and 16 assists from Arlenys Romero in an easy win over Capitalinas on Tuesday. There were two games on Wednesday as Santa Tecla defeated Santa Ana. Rachel Contreras had 33 points and 31 rebounds in Metapan’s win over Monsenor Romero, which got 31 points from Yenifer Jimenez. Capitalinas remained winless after losing to Salvadorenas on Thursday. San Salvador had a ridiculous second quarter on Friday to build up a lead and defeat Metapan. Salvadorenas managed to grind out a win over Ahuachapan on Saturday. Ahuachapan also lost on Sunday to close out the week, this time to Santa Tecla.
Australia
Another full week in NBL1 included Yang Shuyu scoring 31 points in her debut for the Melbourne Tigers. Keely Froling had the highest scoring game in the South conference with 35 points in a Northern Force loss.
Georgia Woolley had 32 points in a North Gold Coast Seahawks loss in the North conference. Hayley McDowell-White had 41 points in a Southern Districts Spartans win, getting her share of passes from her sister Jessica, who recorded an 11 point, 11 rebound, 16 assist triple-double.
Mikayla Pivec had a 21 point, 11 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in the West conference for the Mandurah Magic. Sam Ashby had the highest scoring game with 30 points for the Perth Redbacks.
Shyla Heal opened her season in the East conference with the Bankstown Bruins with a 37 point game against her former team. Jaz Shelley had a 30 point game for the Norths Bears. The Albury Wodonga Bandits got 34 points from Emily Lytle and 21 rebounds from Unique Thompson, but still lost. Taylah Levy ended the week with a 33 point game for the Inner West Bulls.
It was a double-round week for most of the teams in the Central conference. Tayla Brazel had a 24 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double for the Sturt Sabres. Abbey Jones grabbed 22 rebounds in a game for the North Adelaide Rockets.
Games in North West Tasmania were on Friday again this week, including Smithton’s win over Wynyard and Latrobe’s win over Devonport. Bailie Wickham was the leading scorer with 36 points to secure Somerset’s win over Burnie. Ellie Collins had 34 points in a win for Penguin over Ulverstone, which got 30 points from Nikki Parker.
Europe
Frida Formann had 37 points to finish a sweep for Nyon to win the championship in Switzerland even though Nia Clouden had another 37 points for Fribourg. Lulea finished a quick sweep of Sodertalje to win the championship in Sweden. Crvena zvezda finished a sweep of Student Nis to win the championship in Serbia. Rapid Bucharest captured both road games at Targoviste to win the championship in Romania. Grasshoppers swept Lions to win the championship in the Netherlands. The championship in Kosovo came down to a deciding Game 7 that Bashkimi won at Peja. Peli Karhut won two more games in the finals in Finland against HBA to win the championship. After dropping a game last season, USK Prague got back to sweeping for a sixteenth consecutive Czech title after defeating Brno. KP Brno got the win over Ostrava for third place. Namur was a surprise entrant to the finals in Belgium, but Mechelen got the sweep.
Dyani Robinson had 36 points to help her team advance to the finals in North Macedonia. Jordan King’s 35 points was not enough for her team to advance to the finals in Luxembourg. Anastasiia Boldyreva had a 20 point, 18 rebound, 10 block triple-double to start the finals in Israel. Abby Beeman had 15 assists to secure a win in the playoffs in Iceland and then Brittany Dinkins had 31 points for the opposition in the next game to bounce back with a win. Mailis Pokk had 30 points and 24 rebounds in an overtime win in Estonia’s playoffs. Almedina Ahmic had 20 rebounds in the Bosnian finals. Ornela Lalaj had 20 rebounds to help her team advance to the finals in Albania.
Chase for Promotion
The final stage of Ukraine’s second division was this weekend with Frankivsk winning the championship game. Mallorca ended up winning the Spanish second division by two games and the playoffs will determine who makes the jump up with them. Halle Idowu had 29 rebounds in Portugal’s second division. The first division finals are still up in the air in Greece, but Aris finished a sweep to win their section of the second division to earn a spot next season. Pia Mankertz had a 15 point, 12 rebound, 13 assist triple-double in an overtime win to secure a spot in Germany’s second division next season for Rotenburg.
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