World of Basketball February 6th

Asia

The last games of this stage were played in Kazakhstan, leaving Turan undefeated at the top of the standings and Barsy Atyrau winless in the bottom half. Play resumed in China with All Star weekend happening as the rest of the season has been rearranged due to their unplanned break. A full week of games was played in South Korea and started on Wednesday with an overtime game that saw Hana Bank pick up a rare win 80-70 over the Stars. The Blue Minx provided the surprise on Thursday, winning 69-58 against Woori Bank. The pack in the middle got tighter on Friday after Sonia Ursu fired the S-Birds past BNK 76-69. Hana Bank lost on Saturday 63-51 to the Blue Minx while Woori Bank returned to winning ways on Sunday, prevailing 69-59 over the Stars. The S-Birds closed the week with an 85-72 win over Hana Bank.

Tasmania

Below the national league, there are many competitions in Australia that run at times other than the traditional basketball season. While the competition is not at the heights that it was during periods of greater basketball popularity locally, eight clubs in small towns around North West Tasmania continue to play in a league that draws in players from around the island during the week, including players simultaneously playing for teams in other leagues. The league opened on Friday as the women’s games were played as doubleheaders before the men’s teams from those clubs met. Ice Young had 38 points, but Smithton lost to Latrobe. Mariah Payne had 46 points to lead Burnie past Penguin. The other two games saw Devonport win big at Wynyard and Somerset fend off Ulverstone.

Around Europe

The last game in the European league regular season was between the two Latvian teams and even with Riga strengthening their roster, Riga Stradins University still won 76-71. Neither team advanced so they will now shift focus to the Baltic league. Riga Straudins University remains the only undefeated team there, but they have played fewer games than the other top teams and still have a tough schedule. Liliane Ikete had a 20 rebound game in the unified Albania-Kosovo competition. In domestic play in Kosovo, Lejla Omerbasic had 41 points over the weekend. In Slovakia, Slavia Banska Bystrica brought in multiple players for the second part of the season, but they are still well behind favorites Piestanske Cajky after losing 88-65.

Chase for Promotion

The impressive statlines in Turkey’s second division came in one game as Zakyia Weathersby had 31 points and 20 rebounds for Edremit as they edged out Elazig, which got 33 points from Ameryst Alston, to win 71-70. Nneka Ezeigbo had 31 points for Zamora, which now sits in second place in Spain’s second division. Lanay Rodney had 39 points in an overtime win to keep her team in the chase in the southern zone of Portugal’s second division. Becca Wann-Taylor continues to be the star in the northern zone with a 36 point, 26 rebound effort being her latest big game. Liliana Miccio had 32 points for Patti, which continues to be the co-leader in the southern half of Italy’s second division. In Iceland’s second division, Jayla Johnson was the top scorer with 37 points, followed by Riley Popplewell with 31 points while Cheah Rael-Whitsitt had 23 rebounds and Schekinah Bimpa grabbed 21 boards. There were a pair of big games in the northern division of Germany’s second division as Keylyn Filewich had 30 points for Bochum and Shomari Harris had 35 points for Lichterfelde. Chartres defeated Charnay in France’s second division to avoid falling too far behind.

Notable Individual Performances

A busy week in Ukraine included a 33 point game for Ksenia Pankina and a 32 point game from Victoria Bogachenko. Andela Marojevic had 32 points for Vrbas in Serbia. Synne Jacobsen had 32 points in 23 minutes in Norway. Amanda Cahill had 36 points, but that was not enough for her team to win in Luxembourg. Nikolina Elez had 31 points, but the game of the week in the Bosnian league was certainly Orlovi’s 105-104 double-overtime win over Lavovi. Kiana Johnson had a triple-double in Iceland. Katie Nolan had 30 points in the British league. Ilmar’I Thomas had 34 points in Finland. Laina Mesila-Kaarmann had a 39 point game in Estonia’s domestic competition. Pamela-Therese Effangova had 36 points to get her team the win in the Czech Republic. Nina Krisper hit the 30 point mark again in Austria.

There were a number of big statlines in Sweden during a week with two rounds of games as Visby won their first game of the season. Norrkoping needed all of Lexi Held’s 40 points in a 67-64 win. Brooklyn Pannell had 31 points for Marbo on Friday. 30 points from Deja Church was not enough for Eos on Saturday. The battle for first place saw Bria Goss score 30 points in Lulea’s win over Sodertalje. Jessica Kelliher had a 37 point, 20 rebound effort for Ostersund before the break. The league in Armenia also had its share of big games as Akeema Richards had 35 points and 20 rebounds to get her team a win. An overtime thriller saw Narine Gyokchyan grab 23 rebounds in her team’s win. Richards scored another 35 points on Monday.