Americas
The regular season concluded in Brazil as the league will break for the continental championship before resuming with the postseason. Ituano missed out on a chance to pull out of last place after a narrow loss to Blumenau on Tuesday. Araraquara did not lose any momentum as the top seed, defeating Mesquita on Wednesday. Santo Andre edged Campinas on Thursday, but could not climb above them in the standings. Aguada’s midweek win in Uruguay knocked Hebraica Macabi from the tie at the top, letting Malvin’s win on Saturday give them the top spot alone. Carina Laborde had a 10 steal game.
The regular season resumed in Mexico after the All Star break. In series starting on Wednesday, Queretaro swept their games at Leon and Fresnillo overcame a close loss at Xalapa to salvage a split. Veracruz picked up solid wins at Irapuato on Thursday and Friday. The last two series started on Friday and Brooke McCarty-Williams had 31 points in the first game for Jalisco on their way to two wins over Monterrey. Aguascalientes swept Correcaminos, getting 35 points in the second game from Sam Fuehring to offset a 34 point game from Brittany Byrd.
Australia
All of the divisions were in action in NBL1, including another busy South division round. Nyadiew Puoch put up the highest scoring game in the first contest of the weekend with 37 points in a Dandenong Rangers loss. Marta Hermida had 31 points for the Ringwood Hawks and Lou Brown had the most rebounds in a game with 21 boards for the Frankston Blues.
The Northside Wizards suffered their first loss, but still have a big lead in the North division after Lauren Heard had 32 points for the Rockhampton Cyclones. Courtney Woods had 34 points in the loss and then had 33 points the next day to help them return to winning ways. Rockhampton withstood 36 points from Mia Loyd for the Brisbane Capitals to win on Saturday, but could not win on Sunday to complete the difficult sweep of a three-game round. Alex Fowler, a late WNBA draft entrant, had 32 points for the Townsville Flames. Teyahna Bond had 30 points to help the Cairns Dolphins hold on to a close win.
The logjam at the top of the East division standings is starting to get cleared, but the Newcastle Falcons did not let up against the last place team, getting 31 points from Kate Kingham. Jolene Anderson had 32 points for the Norths Bears, but they fell back a game as they could not stop Lauren Nicholson from getting to the line and she had 35 points in a Sutherland Sharks win. Shyla Heal had 36 points, but the Sydney Comets fell in overtime to also drop a game back of the lead.
All of the teams in the West division are still chasing the Cockburn Cougars, but the Rockingham Flames were on the wrong end of two strong individual games. Desiree Kelley had 30 points for the Willetton Tigers on Friday and then Robbi Ryan scored 32 points for the Joondalup Wolves on Saturday. Morgan Yaeger was the leading scorer in the Central division with 31 points for the Southern Tigers, which stayed above the crowd in the middle of the standings behind the undefeated Sturt Sabres.
After being off last weekend, Big V resumed play in all divisions and it was the lower tiers that had the standout individual performances. In the third tier, Cortney Hollowood had 32 points, but it was not enough for Surf Coast. An overtime game saw Anaya Rodisha pour in 43 points for Collingwood only to see them still lose. In the second tier, Tyra Johnson’s 30 point game also came in a loss as Mildura fell to Melbourne University, which got 31 points from Amelia Smith.
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