Australia
It was another busy weekend in NBL1’s South division and the Mt. Gambier Pioneers were happy to have Miela Goodchild back from international duty as she poured in 37 points to hand Waverley their first loss. The Falcons did bounce back thanks to a 31 point game from Bec Cole. Bendigo is the last undefeated team as Kelly Wilson delivered a 11 point, 10 rebound, 15 assist triple-double. A couple of players had two big scoring games as Alicia Froling followed a 33 point game with a 35 point effort and Chloe Bibby started with a 30 point game and then hit the 36 point mark. Funda Nakkasoglu scored 33 points and Eve Braslis got to 30 points.
Cate Reese and Erin Bollmann had 32 point games in the North division with the latter helping Darwin stay undefeated alongside with Northside, which had Courtney Woods score 30 points as they wait to return to full strength. Mikaela Ruef had a 22 rebound game for the Logan Thunder. There was a triple-double in the West Division as Ashleigh Isenbarger had 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 blocks for the Perry Lakes Hawks. Regan Turnour-McCarty had a 31 point game for the Goldfields Giants.
In the Central division, it was a double round weekend for most teams. Sturt remains undefeated and widened the gap after their Sunday win over South Adelaide, which also lost on Saturday after Brooke Basham had 31 points for North Adelaide. Basham had 30 points the next day, but her team lost. The highest scoring game was from Sharna Thompson as the Norwood Flames let her fire away to the tune of 37 points. In the East division, Lauren Nicholson taught the youngsters of the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence a lesson with a 31 points game for the Sutherland Sharks.
The notable statlines in North West Tasmania came in the same game on Tuesday as Olivia West had a triple-double for Somerset, but Ice Young helped Smithton get the win because of her 50 point effort. The top scorer this weekend in all divisions of Big V was Kylah Collins, who had 43 points in the third tier. The most noteworthy statlines at the top level happened in the same game as Amanda Paschal had a 25 point, 10 rebound, 12 assist triple-double to help Wyndham withstand a 35 point game from Alicia Carline for Sherbrooke.
Asia
A pair of sweeps meant that Kazakhstan’s season ended on Tuesday. Turan finished an undefeated league season with a 55-38 win over Astana after Aqtobe’s 68-46 win over Caspiy in the third place series. The finals started on Wednesday in Taiwan and Cathay Life won 82-69. They won again on Friday 73-60, meaning that Taiyuan Textile would need to win on Saturday to extend their season, but they ran out of steam late and fell 59-55 to lose in a sweep to the team that had the edge in the regular season as well.
Americas
Another round in Brazil started with Blumenau’s win on Thursday. Ituano is playing better in the second half, but could not extend that to a win over first place Araraquara on Saturday. Sampaio lost to Santo Andre on Sunday, but they debuted three players who could make the difference down the stretch, including Erika de Souza playing what could be her last season. Campinas closed out the round with their win over Catanduva as the victor would move to .500 and sit inside the top half with four rounds to play.
The semifinals were played in Mexico and neither series had any surprises. Teporacas won 61-50 in Saltillo on Thursday and the Racers fell 89-65 on Saturday to get swept. Mieleras won 77-63 on Friday in Aguascalientes and then made the trip back to Guanajuato and finished their sweep on Saturday against Lobas 96-76.
The other national Mexican league had their second weekend of play, opening on Thursday with Aguascalientes starting their sweep of Irapuato. Fresnillo was the last team to debut after having the bye last weekend and lost twice to Veracruz. Monterrey swept Xalapa while Danielle Adams had 32 points in only 17 minutes for Chihuahua to start their sweep of Correcaminos. The only split came in Jalisco after Queretaro bounced back from a tough Friday loss with a Saturday win.
Around Europe
Ragusa won the championship in Croatia after finishing their sweep over Tresnjevka 78-48 on Tuesday. In the Bosnian league, Orlovi won 74-68 on Tuesday and then finished off their sweep of Banovici on Saturday 73-63. The British championship was contested in a women’s-men’s single site doubleheader featuring the same matchup in both games and London Lions started their day’s sweep of Leicester Riders with a 57-41 win. In a league that does not consistently provide timely stats, Kam finished their sweep of Badel to win North Macedonia’s championship on Sunday.
Chase for Promotion
The series to determine the other team that would secure a spot in the top division in Turkey for next season started on Wednesday with Izmit hosting the first two games. Mikayla Cowling had 30 points to help Alanya strike first on the road 72-71, but they lost 97-62 on Friday. The series shifts to Antalya for games on Tuesday and Thursday.
The series to determine the final spot in the top division in Slovakia for next season started on Friday after Poprad had gone nearly a month since the last game of the series that put them in this position. The academy team of Young Angels Kosice doubled them up in their home game 80-40. Poprad went quietly in the second game, losing 77-43.
Two of the players with the most consistent big statlines this season in Portugal’s second division started their series to determine the other team to win a place in the top division next season. Hannah Armour had 45 points on Saturday, but it was not enough. Becca Wann-Taylor had 37 points for Barcelos, which now has two chances to win at home next weekend.
Both semifinals in the North section of Italy’s second division ended in sweeps. Milano edged past Udine 72-68 on Wednesday and then Costa Masnaga defeated Scrivia 60-49 on Thursday. The last series in the South started on Tuesday with Firenze winning 82-67 at Empoli and then finishing the sweep on Sunday with a 76-68 win. Battipaglia will be their next opponent after a 72-56 win against Spezzina to finish their sweep on Wednesday. Carugate finished a sweep of Trieste in the North Playout with a 70-55 win on Thursday. The South needed a deciding game after Cagliari’s 78-67 on Wednesday and Vigarano took care of business at home on Saturday 68-63.
One deciding game was needed for the last promotion place in Germany’s second division on Friday and Gottingen defeated Opladen 53-39. All the teams who reached this stage also had to play Sunday games with no impact on next season and Opladen did end their season with a 59-52 win over Bochum. The league championship went to the team that finished 4th in their division as Shannon Ryan had 37 points to help Rotenburg win 82-61.
The series for the championship of the French second division and the accompanying place in the top flight started with a good game on Saturday as Chartres looked ready for a win on the road, but top seed Charnay recovered in the second half to win 80-69.
Unlike previous seasons, the winner of the Czech second division got the chance to play the last place team in the top division for that spot in the next season. Coming off their championship game win last weekend, Brandys nad Labem faced a Strakonice team that had not played since March 24th after losing the 9th place series. It did not make a difference for them on Saturday as they won 82-54 on the road. Brandys nad Labem, which is fielding two foreigners, stepped up on Sunday to even the series with a 76-71 win, setting up a deciding game at home on Tuesday.
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