World of Basketball October 9th

Olympic Qualifying

The draw for Olympic qualifying groups was conducted Tuesday with the sixteen teams playing in February. Two spots have not been filled as the Americas will have four teams compete for two places in a tournament held during the November international window. The hosts of each tournament were previously revealed to be China, Belgium, Brazil, and Hungary. The United States and France are participating despite already qualifying so the other top two teams in their groups will join them along with the top three teams in the other two groups. A number of principles were adhered to in the process to balance the groups, including the guarantee that Nigeria and Senegal would be in the same group so that at least one African team will participate in the Olympics. Those two teams ended up in the Belgium tournament alongside the United States. France will head to China along with New Zealand and the runners up in the final Americas tournament. Brazil’s group will be quite tough to evaluate until the final squads are announced as Australia, Germany, and Serbia make the group very deep. Hungary’s tournament could also be very tough, especially if Canada wins the top Americas spot to join Japan and Spain.

Americas

The semifinals in Puerto Rico continued on Tuesday with Manati doubling their advantage against Moca. Hatillo tried to extend their season on Wednesday, but their second half comeback came up short against Carolina. Moca looked set to avoid elimination early on Thursday, but Manati had a strong second half to advance. The final started on Saturday with the top seed Manati getting the opener at home with a strong second half. Carolina hosted on Monday, but their early advantage was in peril until they pulled away late to even the series.

The finals continued in Uruguay with Aguada bouncing back from a tough loss with a decisive win on Thursday to even the series. That left both teams trying to grab the advantage on Sunday when Malvin hosted again and just held on to the win. Lagomar won the first game in the consolation bracket on Saturday. In Argentina, the two undefeated teams in the South met on Monday and it was a thriller that went into overtime before Ferro could get the best of Obras, delaying the men’s half of the doubleheader featuring the same clubs.

Around Europe

More league started play this week, including the Baltic, which features the top teams from Latvia and Lithuania. Two games had already been played in the Adriatic, but this was the first full week of play. The addition of AIK finally gave Sweden’s league an even number of teams so all of them were able to play in a single-site opening weekend that included a 30 point game from Stella Johnson. All teams in Greece played on Saturday with Aristea Paraskevopoulou grabbing 21 rebounds. Leagues also started in places like Norway, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Cyprus, which featured a 27 point, 10 rebound, 15 assist triple-double from Sara Dickey.

The super cup in Switzerland was played after the league had already started and Fribourg maintained their dominance. The cup also continued in Romania and Florina Stanici showed no signs of slowing down for another season in her 40s as she delivered 34 points in Rapid’s exit. Gabriela Marginean had 30 points for Constanta, which will look to challenge in the league when it starts. The super cup was played midweek in Kosovo with Bashkimi lifting the trophy after advancing to the final despite a 37 point game from Mar’Shay Moore. The teams met again to start league play on Saturday and Moore had 36 points, but they lost again with Aulona Muhadri grabbing 23 rebounds on the other side. Jade Williams controlled the boards even more in her game with 26 rebounds.

The Chase for Promotion

It was the first weekend of the season in France’s second division. Spain’s second division had their first full weekend and both of the groups in their third tier started play. Italy’s second division, which no longer has geographical naming for its groups, started play, including Debora Gonzalez pouring in 32 points. The holiday in Germany meant a double round of games that included Ilka Hoffmann scoring 34 points in a game for Freiburg’s reserve team and Maeve Carroll pouring in 35 points for Dillingen. In the other division, Harriet Swindells had a 30 point game. It was a fairly quiet weekend in Turkey’s second division, although Aliyah Maczyk did turn in 37 points, but there are only two undefeated teams left with Edremit and Zonguldak taking the early lead. The start of the second division in Iceland included a 31 point game from Jonina Karlsdottir and Jordan Danberry had 30 points, but the big showdown saw Emma Hakonardottir’s 34 points and Aniya Thomas’s 30 point professional debut falling short after Michaela Porter provided 41 points.

Notable Individual Performances

Cassidy Mihalko scored 35 points in a game in Lithuania, but it was not enough for Siauliai to win. Marjorie Carpreaux dished out 15 assists in a game in Switzerland. Yeisy Perez had a 30 point game for Domzale in Slovenia. Ke’Shunan James had 35 points, but Piestanske Cajky lost and will clearly have a big challenge from Young Angels Kosice in Slovakia this season. It was a complete road sweep for teams in Luxembourg this weekend as Jovana Jaksic had a 33 point game and Deijah Blanks had 31 points in her game, but it was not enough because Nicole Fransson had 33 points and 26 rebounds on the other side. Taiyanna Jones had 20 rebounds in a game in Finland. Hanna Maria Sibul had a 32 point game in Estonia. Lana Packovski had a 32 point game in Croatia. A double week in Iceland produced a few big statlines as Raquel Laneiro had 35 points, Kolbrun Armannsdottir had a 31 point game at age 15, Emilie Hesseldal grabbed 20 rebounds, and Lindsey Pulliam hit the 30 point mark.