Americas
The quarterfinals continued in Brazil this week, starting with a pair of games on Wednesday. Top seed Sampaio was the first team to advance, finishing a sweep of Mesquita. Ituano joined them later with a narrow home win over Corinthians. Santo Andre was the only road team to lose their first game, which was not much of a surprise in the battle of the two teams with the closest seeds. Campinas looked set to win again on Thursday, but the hosts controlled the fourth quarter to force a deciding game. Araraquara returned from winning the continental championship on Friday and finished their sweep of Blumenau. That left one deciding game that was played on Saturday morning and Campinas won at Santo Andre for the only seeding upset in this round.
All but one series in this round was on a Thursday-Friday schedule, starting with Xalapa finishing a sweep at Tamaulipas. San Luis Potosi won both of their games against Aguascalientes. Chihuahua completed a sweep of Veracruz to finish the day. The other series was on a Friday-Saturday schedule and Monterrey is the first team to finish the regular season, but could not continue their momentum despite a high seed in the playoffs after Irapuato earned a split after the second game.
The big statlines in Puerto Rico came in Sunday’s games, including Juliana Rosario’s 34 points and 22 rebounds for the Guaynabo Mets. The Lionesses of Ponce also got a big win with 43 points from Keysha Santiago and 24 rebounds from Lesiriam Pagan.
Australia
It was a busy weekend in NBL1’s South conference, but there continues to be no change at the very top of the standings even with Alicia Froling leading the Knox Raiders to another win with 31 points as they remain behind the Keilor Thunder. They also defeated the Frankston Blues, which got 31 points from Chelsea D’Angelo. Nyadiew Puoch continued playing for the Dandenong Rangers after being drafted and has had an excellent season alongside her younger sister, putting up 34 points in a win. Mehryn Kraker had a 12 point, 12 rebound, 13 assist triple-double for the Ballarat Miners while Shaneice Swain had the highest scoring game with 40 points for Geelong.
The Northside Wizards stayed perfect in the North conference, followed by the Townsville Flames, which got a 34 point from Kate Gaze in their win. The Rockhampton Cyclones are next in the standings after Samantha Bowman had 22 rebounds in their win. Taylah Levy had 34 points for the Central Districts Lions, which continues to sit at the top of the tiebreaker in the Central conference with the North Adelaide Rockets.
The Rockingham Flames continue to lead the West conference after a pair of wins, including getting a 20 rebound effort from Neseya Parker-Williams. The Warwick Senators sit right behind them tied in the loss column after their own two wins with Karly Murphy providing 23 and 21 rebound games. The Lakeside Lightning got 31 points from Marnelle Garraud in a win.
With Lauren Jackson not joining the national team for this weekend, the East conference leading Albury Wodonga Bandits continued their perfect run with a pair of wins, including getting 50 points from their star to finish the weekend. Mikayla Pivec recorded triple-doubles in both games with 21 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 assists and then 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists. The Norths Bears lurk behind them quietly while the Newcastle Falcons got 20 rebounds from Isla Juffermans to move up to third place. Jasmine Forcadilla had 31 points for the Central Coast Crusaders in the last game of the round.
Triple-doubles were the story in Big V’s top division. League-leading Wyndham got them in back-to-back games from Amanda Paschal after she followed up a 24 point, 12 rebound, 12 assist effort with a 26 point, 11 rebound, 12 assist performance. Tenaya Sooalo recorded 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists in a win for Sherbrooke in a game that saw Amy Baum dish out 15 assists for Bulleen.
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