Asia
The championship playoffs will start next weekend in Japan, but the makeup of next season’s divisions were determined with a series this weekend. The Wings, which finished in 7th place in the top section, faced the Queen Bees, which finished in 2nd place in the bottom section. The Queen Bees won on Friday, but the Wings evened up the series on Saturday before Ramu Tokashiki had 31 points to help them also win the deciding game on Sunday.
There were three series in Kazakhstan this week with two of them played on a Saturday-Sunday schedule. Turan finished a sweep of Zhetisu by getting a 16 assist outing from Milana Alyoshkova. Astana got a sweep of Ertis. Okzhetpes sits all alone in second place in the loss column, but could only manage a split in their Sunday-Monday series with Barsy Atyrau.
Play resumed after the international break in South Korea on Monday as the S-Birds built on some of their momentum from before the stoppage in a win over the Stars.
Another pod of games was played in Taiwan this week and it was Cathay Life winning all three games, followed by Taiyuan Textile, Chunghwa Telecom, and Taipower. Ajae Petty had games of 20 rebounds and 30 points for Taiyuan Textile in their wins, while Osh Brown had 30 points in Chunghwa Telecom’s loss to them.
Americas
Play resumed in Argentina as more teams finished their regular seasons in the South conference and everyone finished up in the North conference. The highlight was a game that went into double overtime before Agustina Marin scored 36 points to secure a win for El Talar.
The semifinals were played on Monday in Mexico as Dragonas surprised Mieleras in the first game. The hosts Zacatecas then defeated Toritas after a ridiculously dominant fourth quarter.
There were two series on a Thursday-Friday schedule in Mexico’s other league and Cancun had an easy sweep of Tamaulipas. Irapuato won the opener at home, but Leon salvaged a split. The other two series were on a Saturday-Sunday schedule, starting with Aguascalientes sweeping Monterrey. Zaay Green had 35 points to finish an Aguascalientes sweep of San Luis Potosi.
The week in Brazil started with Uninassau winning at Salvador on Tuesday. Santo Andre won at Maringa on Thursday. Sao Jose got the win at Mesquita on Friday. There was a doubleheader on Saturday, starting with Campinas’s win over Araraquara and then Sampaio doubled up Uninassau. Salvador had an early lead on Sunday, but Cerrado closed the door on them after dominating the rest of the game.
A busy week in El Salvador started on Tuesday with Salvadorenas doubling up Monsenor Romero and San Salvador’s win over Santa Tecla. Salvadorenas edged Santa Tecla the next day, getting 20 rebounds from Silvia Vega. Wednesday’s other game saw Rachel Contreras grab 22 rebounds in a Metapan win over Santa Ana, which got 32 points from Dairis Tornell. San Salvador won Thursday’s game against Capitalinas. On Friday, Yenifer Jimenez had 31 points in Monsenor Romero’s win over Capitalinas. Contreras had another 22 rebounds on Saturday and Monica Aristondo had 30 points in Metapan’s win against Ahuachapan. The other game that day had San Salvador winning at Santa Ana. Contreras only managed 21 boards on Sunday, but Metapan won again as Jimenez had 30 points in the loss for Monsenor Romero. Maria Montero dished out 15 assists, but fell short in the scoring column as she chased a triple-double.
Australia
This week’s games in North West Tasmania were played on Friday. Sarah O’Neill had 30 points for Latrobe, falling a point short of matching what Wynyard managed for the entire game. Sharna Thompson poured in 40 points, but Somerset lost to Ulverstone. Millie Baker had 30 points in a big win for Burnie over Penguin. Smithton defeated Devonport in the other game.
The different NBL1 conferences start at different times as the Central began play on Saturday with a full slate of games. The top two scorers each reached the 30 point mark as Brittany Hodges led the Woodville Warriors and Morgan Yaegar paced the West Adelaide Bearcats.
The most prominent state-level league is the one in Victoria, which returns to three tiers of play this year. The two lower tiers started play this weekend and Maleia Bracone had an excellent start in the middle division with the Mildura Heat after games of 31 and 36 points. Ranika Guyton had 32 points in the bottom division for the Wallan Panthers.
Around Europe
The championship in the unified competition was determined this week as it ended up being same-country battles in the medal games. Maddi Cluse had 31 points, but Flamurtari lost to Tirana in the battle of Albanian teams for the bronze medal. Alexis Mead had 33 points to secure the championship for Bashkimi over Peja in a battle of Kosovan teams. Peja got an 11 point, 14 rebound, 11 assist triple-double from Kiki Jefferson in their first game in the domestic league playoffs. The championship was also contested in the second division of the Adriatic and Ilirija edged Brod nad Savi in the final while Maribor rolled past Maribor in the bronze medal game.
Crvena zvezda had two easy wins to capture the cup in Serbia. Sheffield Hatters defeated Manchester to win one of the British cups. Andrea Daley had 33 points in the lone league game there. Milena Lund had 33 points in an overtime win to start the playoffs in Norway. Ksenia Alfiorova had 34 points to start the playoffs in Moldova. Tayler Mingo had 33 points to send the series to determine who stays in Greece’s top division to a deciding game. Laila Lawrence had 31 points in the playoffs in Finland.
Chase for Promotion
A battle in Turkey’s second division saw Iggy Allen score 33 points to secure a win as Brittany Byrd also reached that mark in the loss. Claudia Del Amo had 31 points in Spain’s third division. Playoff games in Romania’s second division included 30 points from Mikyla Tolivert and 11 steals from Ioana Velcea. Sienna Durr had 41 points in an overtime win in Portugal’s second division and Taylor Linzie had another 26 rebounds. Egle Juceviciute had a 23 rebound game in Lithuania’s second division. Leilani Kapinus had 30 points in Iceland’s second division. Marta Miscenko had 28 rebounds in Germany’s second division and Faith Dut had 30 points in the other half. Julie Tetart had 30 rebounds in France’s second division.
Notable Individual Performances
In North Macedobnia, Kayla Thomas had 31 points, Tymberlin Criswell had 31 points, and Lauren Scott had 30 points. Viktorija Oseniece had 21 rebounds in Latvia. Roselis Silva dished out 15 assists in Iceland. Isabella Palmqvist had 31 points in Denmark. Emma Merriweather had 24 rebounds in the Czech league. Bendu Yeaney had 35 points in Croatia. In the Bosnian league, Miljana Dzombeta had 30 points and 17 assists and Marijana Sehovac had 33 points.
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