Americas
Another week of games in Puerto Rico started with a barnburner last Monday as it took overtime for Juana Diaz to get past Caguas. On Tuesday, Santurce was the first team to nine wins after getting past Manati. There were three games scheduled for Wednesday, but Yauco’s home game against Caguas had to be stopped before two minutes were even played. Moca fell out of the tie for first place in the loss column after losing to Juana Diaz and Ponce missed a chance to climb a game clear of last place after losing to Hatillo. Manati created a gap between the middle of the pack and the two teams at the bottom of the standings after their win over Carolina on Thursday. There were two games on Friday, starting with the two teams tied for last place squaring off to see Ponce get past Yauco. Caguas dropped closer to them after losing to Isabela.
Saturday was the day for all of the All Star festivities, starting with the skills competition won by Kaishmy Ayuso of Juana Diaz. Charity Harris of Carolina won the shooting stars challenge with her partner and then Fabiola Cosme of Hatillo won the three-point competition. Siuly Burgos won the MVP of the Rising Stars game after leading her team to a win. Nina De Leon’s shooting display gave her team the win and earned her MVP honors in the All Star game. All teams were off on Sunday, but action resumed on Monday with Manati defeating Ponce. Hillary Martinez had a 21 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double for Moca, but their slide continued with a loss to Isabela to fall below them in the standings.
Another busy week in El Salvador started on Tuesday with Santa Tecla’s win over Capitalinas. The top two teams in the league met on Wednesday and Anisleidy Galindo grabbed 24 rebounds to help San Salvador secure the win over Salvadorenas. On Friday, Dairis Tornell had 31 points and Vanessa Hernandez had 30 points to help Santa Ana prevail in overtime over Ahuachapan, withstanding 33 points from Yenifer Jimenez. They could not sustain the momentum on Saturday though, losing to Salvadorenas. Ahuachapan bounced back on Sunday and defeated Capitalinas.
New Zealand
The season started in New Zealand on Friday with the league not quite in the growth phase that they were hoping for, but still having a second straight season with relatively high pay that continues to allow them to attract solid foreign players and sign away national league-level players from Australia to the spots designated for them. The Pouakai had a fantastic second half to get the win over the Hoiho, getting 30 points from Marena Whittle. As has been the case recently, bench players participate in a sixteen minute game that tips off an hour before the main game. After combining minutes from both games, Emma Rogers was the first player to play more than 40 minutes on one day as the Hoiho did win that game too. On Saturday, the Queens had a big win in the reserve game, but had to battle a little more in the main game to get both wins over the Whai. The Kahu made their debut on Sunday, but got swept by the Pouakai even though they got 31 points from Haliegh Reinoehl.
Japan
Cup qualifying in the West was played this weekend with teams trying to get the two spots on offer from this side. On Saturday, the Wings defeated the Koalas in the first game, followed by an easy win for the Sunshine Rabbits over the Queen Bees. The Antelopes defeated the Egrets in the last game. The Iris got the bye, so they played their first game on Sunday, defeating the Wings. The Sunshine Rabbits grabbed the other spot with their win over the Antelopes.
Europe
More leagues started their season, including the second division of the multi-national Adriatic competition. Teams played two games over the weekend with an overtime thriller lacking offense, but giving Ela Modric the chance to grab 22 rebounds in a loss. Both the cup and league started in Romania. League play also started in Slovakia, Lithuania, Germany, Denmark, Czechia, and Austria.
Quinta Dos Lombos defeated Benfica in Portugal’s Supercup. Depiro defeated Starlites in Malta’s Super Cup. Amandine Toi had 35 points for Haukar in Iceland’s Supercup, but they lost to Njardvik. Eleanna Christinaki scored enough points on her own to win Greece’s SuperCup with 32 against PAS Giannina for Olympiacos. Flamurtari defeated Tirana in Albania’s Supercup. Cup play in the British league included Annika Shah scoring enough points in her professional debut to get a win for London Lions with 28.
Notable Individual Performances
Koi Love had 36 points in her professional debut in Switzerland and Frida Formann had 30 points in hers there. Nicole Flennaugh was the leading scorer in their opening weekend though with 37 points. Laura Zolper had the highest-scoring game in Sweden’s opening weekend with Stephanie Visscher turning in a 30 point effort. Jovana Popovic continues to be one of the most exciting young players in Europe, opening the season in Serbia with a 33 point game. Tetiana Yurkevichus had 20 rebounds on opening day in Israel. Desiree Ramos had a 30 point game in Luxembourg. Ella Declerq had a 32 point game in Belgium.
The Chase for Promotion
Countries with a large number of teams often have them divided into multiple divisions with a formal structure for teams to move up and down based on performance. There have been calls to expand the top division, but France’s second division has gone from twelve to fourteen teams this season with all but the team from the national training center looking to move up as their seasons started on Saturday. The German second division is regionalized into two halves and Annemarie Potratz-Bramscher had 31 points in her opener in the North while Emma Rhein had 10 steals. Turkey’s second division increased the foreign player limit from one to two players this season so teams will not be as reliant on one person. Not all of the teams played in the opening weekend, but Dre’Una Edwards did get started by grabbing 26 boards.
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