Australia
A busy weekend in the NBL1 South Division included a meeting of the top two teams, but there was no drama with Bendigo doubling up Waverley 92-46 and the Falcons fell further behind on Sunday after losing to Kilsyth, which got 21 rebounds from Alisia Jenkins. Megan McKay had 34 points for the league leaders in their other game to help them stay undefeated after Taylah Giliam had 31 points for Casey. Chloe Bibby had the highest scoring game with 35 points for Frankston and Nyadiew Puoch had 32 points for Dandenong.
The Northside Wizards extended their lead in the North Division by game after withstanding 31 points from Ariana Moorer in a win over Gold Coast Rollers, but were given the news that they will not have their star for the rest of the season. Erin Riley had the highest scoring game with 36 points for the North Gold Coast Seahawks and Mia Loyd had 33 points for the Brisbane Capitals. Mikaela Ruef had 22 and 24 rebounds games for the Logan Thunder to increase her average to 21.
In the East division, an upset loss for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles meant that Nicole Munger’s 33 point effort for the Newcastle Falcons on Sunday in an overtime with over the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence created a four-way tie in the loss column at the top of the standings. The Norths Bears are also in that group with Emily Simons providing 32 points in a win. Vanessa Panousis had 34 points to keep the Sydney Comets in that conversation as well. Isabelle Bourne had 30 points for the Canberra Nationals.
There was zero doubt about the biggest individual performance in a holiday round in the West division as Stacey Barr poured in 51 points for the Warwick Senators. Teige Morrell had 22 rebounds for the Joondalup Wolves. Kat Tudor had 31 points for the Mandurah Magic in the holiday Monday morning game. All of the teams in the Central division have now played the same number of games after Norwood’s stirring comeback on Sunday. They had lost on Saturday after Jaelyn De La Cerda’s 22 point, 12 rebound, 10 assist triple-double for Central Districts.
The playoffs started in North West Tasmania and the first game would extend the winner’s season. Riley Lupfer made sure that would be the Penguin Blues, leading them with 32 points in a 79-67 win over the Latrobe Demons. The next game would give the winner the first spot in the championship game and it was no surprise that it was an easy 75-44 for the Devonport Warriors. After losing, the Burnie Tigers will now have to defeat Penguin to get a second chance against the top seed. Haille Nickerson had the highest scoring game in Big V with 33 points for the Pakenham Warriors in the top tier. Emmie O’Niall grabbed 24 rebounds in a second tier game for the Warrandyte Venom and Kylah Collins had 32 points in a Wallan Panthers 86-84 loss in the third tier.
Americas
Only one game was played in Brazil this week with Campinas defeating Ituano 81-52 on Friday. Uruguay had five teams tied at the top of the standings heading into this weekend, but with two games matching up teams from that group, it would not end that way. Malvin won easily at Aguada and Defensor Sporting had a strong second half to defeat 25 de Agosto. Hebraica Maccabi was not playing another top team and rolled to a big win.
In Mexico, Jalisco finished off the last round of games on Tuesday with their sweep of Correcaminos. Another full round was played this weekend with Irapuato forcing the only split against Correcaminos. In Friday-Saturday series, Chihuahua picked up a pair of wins at Fresnillo and Queretaro did the same at Veracruz. In Saturday-Sunday series, is was the home teams that got the sweeps as Monterrey defeated Aguascalientes, their first losses of the season, and Xalapa had two easy wins over Leon.
Europe
The other promotion place was determined in Italy’s second division with the conclusion of the playoffs in the South. Battipaglia made sure that there would not be a deciding game, winning at Firenze 55-52 on Thursday. In a league that is supposed to be elevated next season to a higher classification of competition that will publish stats, Israel’s second division had their championship series that would determine which team would get promoted and have to work on building a stronger roster for the higher level. Hapoel Jerusalem won 59-41 on Tuesday and then finished the sweep over Hapoel Kfar Saba with a 58-38 win on Friday afternoon after both teams were tied at the top of the regular season standings.
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