Asia
Another weekend in Japan started with a Red Wave sweep of the Vickies. The remaining winless teams met in two series and the Wings got on the board with a sweep of the Rabbits while the Queen Bees stung the Egrets twice. The Antelopes stayed at the top of the standings followed by the Iris after sweeps. Ramu Tokasihiki had 38 and 34 point games to also keep the Sunflowers in the mix. Izoje Uche had two strong games to help the Magic sweep the Koalas to end the round. China continued play, but not quite the hectic pace of four years ago and Jiangsu and Guangdong are the teams that are still undefeated alongside preseason favorites Sichuan and Inner Mongolia as teams continue to make star signings.
Around Europe
Teams started reaching the halfway point of the group stage in the Adriatic and Celje is undefeated in Group A while Buducnost is undefeated in Group B. Plamen Pozega is winless in Group A after surrendering 31 points to Natasa Sobot and Niksic is still looking for a win in Group B. Taya Robinson dished out 16 assists for Montana, which is a game back in Group B. The Baltic competition is still getting into rhythm, although Dominyka Paliulyte had a 10 point, 10 assist, 11 steal triple-double and Valerija Baranovska had a 30 point game. In Lithuania’s second division, Austeja Rauckyte had a 37 point game and Agne Antanaviciute had a 20 rebound effort. Vivita Morusa had a 34 point game in Latvia’s domestic league.
There were cup weekends in multiple countries, including Switzerland, which had their Round of 16 games that included 30 point efforts from Asiah Dingle and Sara Loomis. Sweden has a different format with qualifiers played previously to get to this weekend, which featured four groups of three teams each. Lulea, Sodertalje, Norrkoping, and Ostersund won their groups with Jessica Kelliher turning in a 32 point performance in Group 4. The most ludicrous game that may happen anywhere this season came in Slovakia on Saturday when Slavia Banska Bystrica leaned on Trencin with their full weight to the tune of a 201-16 victory. Snezana Bogicevic narrowly missed out a quadruple-double, but still had 64 points, 16 rebounds, and 16 steals. Natalia Martiskova had 45 points, 15 assists, and 13 steals, Kristyna Brabencova had 27 points and 14 steals, and Erika Holikova also outscored the opposition.
Chase for Promotion
Edremit has the lead in the Turkish second division after Aliyah Collier scored 30 point for Bodrum to hand Zonguldak their first loss. There was no shortage of other strong individual performances after Aliyah Mazyck scored 30 points to get her team a win over the reserve team of Botas, which got 36 points from Taylor Edwards. Chanel Mokango had 31 points and 20 rebounds for Adana, but it was Tearra Banks who score the most points with 40 for Cankiri to offset Angela Tompkins’s 35 point effort for Urla.
Zamora defeated Ardoi in the battle of the last two undefeated teams in Spain’s second division. In the third division, the youngsters of Segle XII faced struggling Tenerife, who had recently played in the top division, and heaped on the misery, including a 26-0 shutout in the second quarter and Maria Rodriguez and Iyana Martin each scored more than the 13 points that the visitors mustered. In Italy’s second division, results left Scrivia as the remaining undefeated team and Carugate as the remaining winless team in group A while Udine is alone at the top in group B with Lucia Missanelli turning in the top scoring output of 31 points. La Tronche Meylan is the only undefeated team in France’s second division, but all that will end up mattering is the playoffs and battle at the bottom of the standings.
In Serbia’s second division, Marija Cvijovic had a 37 point, 14 rebound, 12 assist triple-double while her teammate Tamara Golubovic had 33 points. Zaria Dorsey had a 30 point game in Portugal’s second division. A triple-overtime thriller in Iceland’s second division saw 32 points from Jordan Danberry still not get her team the win as Sierra Smith had 27 rebounds for the opposition. Maeve Carroll had 32 points in a loss in Germany’s second tier while Kate Hill had the same experience after a 30 point game. In the northern division, Ramona Tews had a 30 point game.
Notable Individual Performances
The second pod of games was played in Ukraine this weekend with Anzhelika Liashko scoring 30 points to get Kyiv one of their wins as Oksana Fastova had 32 points for the opposition. Milena Skrbic led all scorers in Serbia with 31 points. Alexis Pana recorded an 18 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in Romania. Natalie Villaflor had 32 points for Asker Aliens in Norway. Jovana Jaksic was the leading scorer in Luxembourg with 32 points, followed by Caitlyn Jones at 30 points. A wild weekend in Kosovo included Mar’Shay Moore scoring 48 points to spearhead a comeback and offset Jenna Mastellone’s 35 point game and Asianae Johnson had 34 points and 10 steals to lead her team to a win.
Iceland also had its share of big games with Korinne Campbell grabbing 26 rebounds, Brooklyn Pannell scoring 35 points, and Keira Robinson providing 33 points. Morgan Jones had a 36 point game in Greece. Destiny Littleton hit the 33 point mark in Germany. In Finland, Lynn Leaupepe had an 18 point, 17 rebound, 10 steal triple-double. The highest scoring game saw Jayda Jansen score 31 points to lead her team to a win and offset a 34 point game from Sam Breen. Sara Dickey had 32 points in a win in Cyprus while Kaela Webb’s 35 points got her team a win in the other game, which also featured 20 rebounds from Panagiota Themistokleous. Petra Bozan had 31 points in one game in Croatia while Kennedy Gavin’s 31 points were not enough as Iva Todoric recorded a 22 point, 11 rebound, 10 assist triple-double.
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