Australia
The Central division had the week off, but the rest of NBL1 had plenty of games. The big scoring games happened on Sunday in the South division as Keely Froling’s 39 points fueled a Launceston comeback. Marena Whittle had 37 points for Ringwood and Bec Cole had 36 points for Waverley. Bendigo is still undefeated as Amy Atwell had 32 points and Lana Hollingsworth had a 31 point game for Keilor.
Laci Hawthorne scored the most points in a game in the West Division with 34 points for the Lakeside Lightning as the South West Slammer continue to provide little resistance and Emma Clarke had a 33 point game for the Perry Lakes Hawks. The Northside Wizards remain undefeated in the North Division even while waiting for a key player to return as Courtney Woods led them with 35 points and they now sit at the top alone after Darwin suffered their first loss. Elin Gustavsson also reached the 35 point mark while Samantha Bowman and Mikaela Ruef each had 22 rebound games.
A terrific duel in the East division saw Lauren Nicholson follow up a 22 point triple-double with a 43 point game for the Sutherland Sharks, but Shyla Heal had 41 points and a little bit more help to get the Sydney Comets a win against her former team. Violet Morrow had 35 points for the Bankstown Bruins and Lizzy Tonks had a 31 point game for the Canberra Nationals while Sydney Hunter had the most rebounds of anyone in a game with 20 for the Maitland Mustangs.
Riley Lupfer was the leading scorer in North West Tasmania this week with 33 points in Penguin’s narrow win over Latrobe and Ionna McKenzie had 20 rebounds in Wynyard’s overtime win over Ulverstone. In the second tier of Big V, 43 points from Courtney Strait was not enough for Craigieburn. Dyani Ananiev had the highest scoring game in the top division with 33 points while Alicia Carline had a 21 rebound game.
Americas
The league in Brazil only had three games from this round played this week, starting on Tuesday with Sampaio’s win. The other two teams in the top three, Santo Andre and Araraquara, won on Thursday and Friday respectively. Defensor Sporting is in first place in Uruguay after winning a battle of undefeated teams on Saturday against Aguada.
The Finals started this week in Mexico with Mieleras hosting the first two games in Guanajuato. Teporacas won 80-70 on Friday and then 81-74 on Saturday. They will now get two chances to win the championship at home in Chihuahua starting on Tuesday.
Another week of Mexico’s other league finished with Fresnillo’s sweep of Monterrey. Queretaro had two easy wins over Irapuato, Aguascalientes had a pair of wins over Xalapa, and Jaliso swept Chihuahua. Correcaminos salvages a split in their series at Leon.
Europe
The team taking the last spot in the top division in Turkey will be determined on Monday after a split of games in Antalya. Izmit withstood a 32 point game from Mikayla Cowling to win 65-61 on Tuesday and then Alanya bounced back for a 56-53 win on Thursday.
Portugal’s second division was expecting more fireworks to determine the other spot in the top division for next season. Hannah Armour had 37 points before fouling out on Saturday and that was enough to even the series with a 95-86 win despite Becca Wann-Taylor’s 42 points and 25 rebounds. Sunday’s game lived up to any possible hype that could have been generated, going into overtime. Armour’s foul trouble was part of the story again as she poured in 53 points before picking up her 5th foul, which made it hard in overtime. Barcelos pounced in the extra frame, winning 106-96 thanks to 64 points and 27 rebounds from Wann-Taylor.
The final series in Poland’s second division was completed after Sokolow had won the first game 54-51 last Saturday. Historic club Wisla Krakow evened the series on Wednesday with an 80-70 win, but Sokolow held on to a 64-60 win in Saturday’s decider.
The tournament for places in the top division in Luxembourg concluded this weekend. Telstar Hesperange was looking forward to at least getting one win, but Les Sangliers Wooltz slammed the door on that in the second half on Saturday with a 75-68 win. Black Star Mersch did defeat Etzella Ettelbruck 68-49 in the game on Sunday.
Chartres needed a win at home on Wednesday to continue to have a chance to win the second division in France and take the lone promotion place. They were close, but just found themselves edged out again 55-54 by Charnay, which bounced back immediately with a sweep after dropping back down to this level.
A spot in the top division in the Czech Republic came down to one dramatic game on Thursday with Brandys nad Labem hosting. Strakonice was trying to hold on to a place after years of struggling, but not having a challenger for continuing their top flight experience. They had the lead going into the final quarter, but the home team came back and forced overtime to win 79-76, getting 23 rebounds from Leeza Burdgess.
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