World of Basketball January 1st

Asia

Only one series was played in Japan this week with the Magic sweeping the Rabbits over Friday and Saturday. Another phase finished in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with Astana winning two overtime games to sit in the lead, getting a 21 point, 13 rebound, 10 assist triple-double from Anastasiya Alishauskaite in one victory. Elizaveta Mitina had a 35 point game while Daria Surkova had a 38 point game.

It was only a five game week in South Korea ahead of a break and it started with a Blue Minx win over Hana Bank on Wednesday. Park Ji-Hyun had 20 rebounds on Thursday as Woori Bank came back to defeat BNK. It was Park Ji-Su’s turn to get 20 rebounds on Friday and the Stars defeated the S-Birds. The Blue Minx won against Hana Bank on Saturday and then the Stars finished the year with a win over BNK on Sunday.

It was the final week of games in China before a long break for holiday celebrations and preparation for national team play. Inner Mongolia needed overtime to win one game, but swept their week and still lead Sichuan by a game in the loss column in the race for the top seed. Guangdong holds a two game lead in the loss column for the last bye in the playoffs. Fujian’s run was stopped, but they and Liaoning sit in a tie for the last playoff spot a game ahead of Hubei in the loss column. The break will allow teams to prepare for the stretch run and there could be changes in use of the foreign player spots when games resume.

Around Europe

It was a quiet week around Europe with many leagues taking a holiday break, but Kate Andersen did have a 30 point game in Portugal. The cup quarterfinals in Israel were played on Thursday and highlights included a 31 point, 15 rebound, 14 assist triple-double from Eden Zipel, a 14 point, 13 rebound, 10 assist triple-double from Daniel Raber, and Alyssa Baron falling an assist short, but still scoring 31 points. Baron also had 30 points in the league round on Monday as two games are left before teams can bring in foreigners again, but the team lost after Jennie Simms had a 26 point, 14 rebound, 13 assist triple-double on the other side. There was no change at the top of the standings in the Turkish second division and all of the fun happened in one game when Kamaria McDaniel’s 52 points were not enough for Yalova as Lauren Ebo had 30 points and 22 rebounds in Turgutlu’s win.