World of Basketball February 12th

South Korea

With the national team not involved in Olympic qualifying, the international break was not observed with the usual schedule only being interrupted with a break on Saturday for the New Year’s holiday. Park Ji-Su had 30 points on Wednesday to lead the Stars to a win over the S-Birds. Park Hye-Jin had a 15 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double on Thursday for Woori Bank in a win over Hana Bank. The Blue Minx edged BNK on Friday before the day off for everyone. The top two teams met on Sunday so the Stars relied on Park Ji-Su again and she had 33 points in their win over Woori Bank. Hana Bank defeated the S-Birds on Monday.

Mexico

Another full set of games had Clenia Noblet score 31 points in the second game to help Quetzales finish a sweep of winless Toritas in the North. Mieleras is undefeated in the South after a pair of wins over the U-18 national team. Also running on a Friday-Saturday schedule, Avispas swept Cinnamon in the South. Libelulas is undefeated in the North after sweeping their Friday-Sunday interzone matchup with Blueskas. Mineras swept Husky’s in the North in the only Saturday-Sunday series.

Tasmania

The season started in the North West Basketball Union as the eight teams started action before the schedule of more national leagues start to affect their weeks. None of the four games produced the kinds of crazy statlines that might be expected later in the season. The Latrobe Demons defeated the Smithton Saints, the Devonport Warriors defeated the Burnie Tigers, the Penguin Blues edged the Ulverston Hoppers, and the Wynyard Wildcats got past the Somerset Heat.

Around Europe

Even with the international break, some leagues around the world played this week. Bashkimi defeated Prishtina to take the lead for now in the Albania-Kosovo unified competition, but the fireworks came in the other two games with Oyanaisy Gelis dishing out 15 assists and Karon Williams scoring 34 points. Mar’Shay Moore had 36 points and Arbnore Percuku dished out 18 assists in Kosovo’s league. In Albania, Marina Pellumbi’s 26 points were enough to win the game on its own, but Marinela Gjergji grabbed 20 rebounds, and Megi Spahiu had a 19 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double for good measure. Kinga Piedel was the leading scoring in the Baltic with 35 points. In Latvia, Liva Hermane had 30 points and Keandra Koorits had 31 points.

Chase for Promotion

Nadia Teleshyk had 37 points in Ukraine’s second division. It was not a full round in Turkey’s second division, but Fenerbahce’s reserve squad kept Zonguldak from building too much of a lead on the other promotion contenders with a surprise win. Angela Tompkins was the leading scorer with 38 points, Aliyah Collier had 36 points and 22 rebounds, Kamaria McDaniel had 35 points, and Aliyah Mazyck recorded 11 steals. A busy week in Romania’s second division included Sara Fritea grabbing 26 rebounds, Iustine-Gabriela Hurmuz and Catalina Craciunescu recording 10 steals each, Alexandra Steiner scoring 36 points, and Anamaria Pop scoring 30 points. The top two teams in one side of Italy’s second division met with Scrivia widening their lead on San Giovanni Valdarno while Amaiquen Siciliano had a 36 point game in the other half. There was plenty of action in Iceland’s second division as Shameka McNeill scored 44 points in a game that saw Bergdis Thorsteinsdottir grab 20 rebounds for the opponents. Emma Hakonardottir had 31 points and Sianni Martin had 35 points.

Notable Individual Performances

In Ukraine, Oksana Fastova had a 31 point game and Krystyna Filevich reached the 31 point mark too. 31 points from Sydney Brown was enough for a win in Switzerland even though Marie Hunter had 34 points on the other side. Steffi De Martino had 36 points in Malta. The top group played in Luxembourg and Karly Murphy had 30 points in Contern’s surprise win while Mikayla Ferenz poured in 41 points. In Finland, Randi Brown had 33 points while IImar’I Thomas had 33 points in a game that saw Taru Tukkanen record a 12 point, 12 rebound, 10 assist triple-double. Panagiota Themistokleous grabbed 24 rebounds in Cyprus.