Americas
The final week of the regular season in Brazil included a pair of games on Tuesday. Sampaio sealed the top seed with their win over Ourinhos while Araraquara, which had been keeping pace with them, broke out of their recent slide with a win over Blumenau. Cerrado got a close win at Corinthians on Thursday. There were two games on Friday as Araraquara built some momentum with a decisive win over Santo Andre and Mesquita had the better fourth quarter to leave with a win over Campinas. On Saturday, Sao Jose dos Campos dropped Cerrado to the last playoff seed after a wild overtime win. Sunday was the last day of the regular season and started with the top two teams meeting again as Sampaio held off Araraquara again. Corinthians finished behind them with a win over Mesquita. Ourinhos ended Blumenau’s season in the final game of the day.
The playoffs started on Tuesday in Mexico with the series on a Tuesday-Wednesday format with deciding games played at the home of the team that finished lower in the standings on Saturday if necessary. Three series ended in sweeps as last place Leon had to play four games in a row at Chihuahua thanks to the schedule and promptly made their exit. Aguascalientes also advanced easily with Mariam Coulibaly scoring 34 points in the clincher while Jayla Johnson’s 31 points were more than half of Veracruz’s total for the game. Cancun had to battle late twice, but got the home wins over Irapuato. Monterrey won the opener, but Tamaulipas forced overtime in the second game and prevailed to set up the home deciding game. That contest ended up being even more dramatic as it took two overtimes for Monterrey to advance.
Australia
All five conferences in the nationwide NBL1 league were in action this weekend and the story in the South conference continues to be undefeated Geelong. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had the highest scoring game with a 33 point effort while Dallas Loughridge had a 31 point game and Haliegh Reinoehl had a 30 point game. Lauren Scherf closed the weekend with a 22 point, 10 rebound, 13 assist triple-double.
In the West conference, teams are still chasing the undefeated Cockburn Cougars with the Warwick Senators leading the pack and they got the highest scoring game of the weekend with 32 points from Chloe Forster. Zitina Aokuso had a 27 point, 20 rebound, 14 assist triple-double in an overtime win for the East Perth Eagles.
The Southern Districts Spartans lost their first game in the North conference, dropping them into a tie with the Logan Thunder and Mackay Meteorettes in the loss column. The latter got a win that included a 24 rebound game from Unique Thompson. The weekend ended with Chelsey Perry scoring 40 points for the Rockhampton Cyclones only to see them fall short after Grace Champion had a 34 point game for the South West Metro Pirates.
The Newcastle Falcons are back in the lead in the East conference after a win and a Norths Bears loss. The impressive individual performances came in one game as Tahlia Tupaea had a 13 point, 12 rebound, 11 assist triple-double, but the Inner West Bulls lost after Abi Curtain had a 30 point game for the Sydney Comets. The Sturt Sabres now have a one game lead in the loss column after another win in the Central conference.
The three tiers of Victoria’s Big V league were in action this weekend including a matchup of the two teams in the highest division won by the Bellarine Storm over the Pakenham Warriors. The Craigieburn Eagles remain undefeated in the middle division. The Keysborough Cougars have a firm lead in the bottom division, withstanding a 30 point game from Alahna Arnason in their win over Gippsland. The Wallan Panthers remain behind them, getting a 23 rebound game from Emmie Gardner in a win over the Coburg Giants.
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