Asia
The Antelopes completed another sweep in Japan, this time over the Vickies, to extend their lead by another game over the Red Wave and Sunflowers who split games against each other. The Iris sit at the top of the tiebreaker in second place for now after a comprehensive dismantling of the Rabbits over two games. The Egrets are also tied for last place after being swept by the Magic, including a 33 point game for Izoje Uche. The other series resulted in sweeps as well with the Cougars defeating the Queen Bees, the Sunshine Rabbits defeating the Aranmare, and the Wings defeating the Koalas.
Another full week of games started in South Korea on Wednesday with a matchup of the remaining undefeated teams and Park Ji-Su had 24 rebounds for the Stars, but they were edged out by Woori Bank. The Blue Minx defeated BNK on Thursday and then the Stars bounced back with a win over Hana Bank on Friday. Woori Bank made sure that they stayed in first place with a win over the Blue Minx on Saturday. The two winless teams met on Sunday with Hana Bank defeating the S-Birds. Monday’s game was an easy win for the Stars against BNK.
The big game of interest in China this week was certainly Friday’s finals rematch. Inner Mongolia had the advantage of fielding a foreign player and avenged the defeats that Sichuan had been handing them. There have certainly been stories about the defending champions adding a big name as their foreign player, but that has not happened yet. Jiangsu is the only undefeated team left, but they still have three games against teams contending for the playoff bye before they complete the first round-robin.
Around Europe
An early season battle in the Baltic between the presumed top team in each country on Wednesday went to Latvia’s Riga in a decisive win over Kibirkstis from Lithuania. Lithuania’s second division provided a couple of big statlines as Ugne Grigaliunaite had 30 points and Gitana Paplauskaite grabbed 21 rebounds. The Adriatic started this round on Monday and Andjela Sipka had 33 points in a loss. A major milestone was reached in Ukraine when Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman became the first foreign player to play there since the invasion, suiting up for Frankivsk. Anzhelika Liashko had a 31 point game against them while Anastasia Kucheronok had a 36 point game for her team. The top division also started in Israel with a full round of games on Monday. Teams are not allowed to have players considered imports for now, but that will be discussed in January for the second half of the regular season.
Chase for Promotion
Ardoi lost in Spain’s second division so Zamora is now in the lead by two games. Coruna lost their first game in their half of the third division so the youngsters of Segle XXI are in the lead. Marija Cvijovic had 31 points in a loss in Serbia’s second division. A 36 point game from Amaiquen Siciliano was not enough for a win in Italy’s second division.
It was a double-round week in Turkey’s second division and Edremit loss to Bodrum, which got 30 points from Aliyah Collier, tightened up the race for the top spot. The highest scoring game from any player was a 42 point performance from Danielle Adams. Kamaria McDaniel had 36 point outbursts in both of her games, the first of which had Angela Tompkins providing 30 points on the other side, but Yalova could not win either game. Maya Caldwell had a 34 point game and Taylor Edwards hit the 30 point mark.
Notable Individual Performances
Kiara Bell had a 21 rebound game in Switzerland. Lucia Kasperanova had a 31 point game in Slovakia. Zaklina Jankovic had a 30 point game in Serbia. Makana Stone had a 32 point game in Norway and Stine Austgulen also reached the 30 point mark. Steffi De Martino had a 30 point game in Malta. Mia Loyd grabbed 20 rebounds in Luxembourg. Saranda Daci recorded a 13 point, 17 rebound, 11 assist triple-double in Kosovo. Anisha George had 22 boards in Greece. Darcy Rees had 24 rebounds in Great Britain while Karlie Samuelson poured in 35 points. Lynn Leaupepe had 22 rebounds in Finland while Carmen Tyson-Thomas had 34 points. In Estonia, Kristel Talv and young Lisandra Vetesina had 30 point games. Styliana Velinova only needed 20 points to outscore her opponents in Cyprus. Nikolina Kuruzovic had 20 rebounds in the Bosnian league. Sarah Schicher grabbed 22 rebounds in Austria.
In Argentina, Stefania Lucero and Carla Miculka each scored 30 points.
Women's Basketball News and Opinions 