Brazil
One deciding game was needed in the semifinals and it was played on Monday. Sampaio had the homecourt advantage and their early lead was enough for a win over Cerrado. The medal rounds started on Friday with the bronze medal matchup that Araraquara won despite Cerrado’s fantastic start. The championship series started on Saturday with Sampaio taking a large lead and then coasting to a win over Campinas.
Australia
The West conference was the last one in NBL1 to finish their regular season with one more round of games this weekend. There did not end up being too much movement in the standings even though the Eastern Suns finished a late run with a win that featured 26 rebounds from Trista Hull. The Joondalup Wolves finished a game above them after getting a win with 33 points from Kim Pierre-Louis. The Cockburn Cougars already sealed the top seed, but enter the playoffs having lost despite a 16 point, 14 rebound, 10 assist triple-double from Daniel Raber.
The South conference started their playoffs on Saturday with a pair of games between the teams that just made the playoffs. The Melbourne Tigers had the lead early, but had to overcome a halftime deficit to eliminate the Mt. Gambier Pioneers. Abbey Ellis had a fantastic game for the Diamond Valley Eagles with 40 points to ensure that they got past the Ballarat Miners.
The playoffs started in the North conference with a pair of elimination games featuring teams that had finished with the same records in the regular season. Courtney Woods was brilliant for the Townsville Fire on Friday, pouring in 42 points to hold off the Southern Districts Spartans in a close contest. The other game was on Saturday and the Mackay Meteorettes also got a home win, building up a big first half lead against the Northside Wizards.
The East conference finals featured upper and lower brackets with all of the games on Saturday. The lower bracket games were elimination games as the Albury Wodonga Bandits defeated the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders. The Newcastle Falcons did enough in the second half to get the win over the Hills Hornets. Jaz Shelley had 32 points in a Norths Bears win over the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence in the upper bracket after a massive second half. The Bankstown Bruins also get a bye next week after Shyla Heal had 34 points in their win over the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.
There were two playoff games in the Central conference with the first game being an elimination game. The South Adelaide Panthers had the lead in the first half, but the Norwood Flames recovered at home in the second half to get the narrow win. They will face the Sturt Sabres next after the West Adelaide Bearcats pulled away in the game where the winner would advance to the championship game.
The regular season in Big V continued and the top two teams met with the McKinnon Cougars putting on a show in a blowout of the Sherbrooke Suns, getting a 19 point, 10 rebound, 19 assist triple-double from Amy Baum. Rachael Wansbrough had 21 rebounds in a defensive struggle that the Western Port Steelers won. Ahriana Grizzle had 37 points for Wyndham in the middle division. Ranika Guyton had 32 points in a Wallan Panthers loss in the bottom division.
It was championship week in North West Tasmania with the other finalist being determined on Tuesday. Parker Hill had 21 rebounds for the Somerset Heat as they led after one quarter, but young Brydee McPherson was spectacular for the Latrobe Demons with 47 points to help them dominate the rest of the game. The Burnie Tigers were waiting on Friday for the championship game and they took the lead by halftime. Latrobe got a little closer late, but fell short and Burnie defended their title in the battle between the last two champions.
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