Asia/Oceania
All the series in Japan this week were Saturday-Sunday. The Antelopes nearly lost their lead after falling to the Iris by a large margin in the first game before Mai Yamamoto had 36 points to help them salvage a split with an overtime win. The Sunflowers are tied with them now after a sweep of the Koalas, getting a 31 point game from Ramu Tokashiki to win the opener. The Red Wave are also near the lead after a pair of easy wins over the Cougars. The Egrets are still stuck in last place after getting swept by the Vickies. The other sweep was the Wings over the Aranmare, but there were splits between the Queen Bees and Rabbits and the Sunshine Rabbits and Magic.
The last three games of the regular season were played in South Korea. BNK lost their finale to the Blue Minx on Wednesday. The S-Birds are the other team that will not make the playoffs, losing to the Stars on Thursday. Park Ji-Hyun had 30 points to lead Woori Bank to a win over Hana Bank on Friday.
The cup finished up for the top division in Kazakhstan, but the league play was all in the second division. Zhetisu remained undefeated while their reserve team remained winless. Shymkent and Karaganda trail the leaders. Behind them is Okzhetpes’s reserve team, which got 32 points from young Milana Krutevich to win the battle of reserve teams.
The big movement in the Chinese league this week was Jiangsu sliding down a place after two losses against tough opponents in the form of league leaders Sichuan and Zhejiang, the team that is now the closest to taking their place in earning a bye in the playoffs. Liaoning and Fujian both picked up wins over the course of the week to stay locked in a battle for the last playoff spot that the former leads by a game, but the latter has one more game against teams that will not make the postseason.
It was one round week in North West Tasmania and Devonport’s win over Wynyard and Burnie’s win at Penguin left all four teams tied at the top of the standings at 4-2. Latrobe and Somerset also won to stay just a game back of the top half while Smithton remained the only winless team.
Americas
Two Tuesday-Wednesday series were played before the weekend round. Not many teams were able to bring in a foreign player, but there was a big battle between two of them that saw Briahanna Jackson score 33 points in the first game of a Mineras sweep over Quetzales. Libelulas also got a sweep when they faced Toritas, getting 33 points from Ingrid Martinez in the second game. The first full round in a while was played over the weekend on a Saturday-Sunday schedule. Libelulas and Mineras continued their runs with sweeps of Blueskas and Husky’s respectively. Behind them in the North, Quetzales was surprised by Toritas in the second game and had to settle for a split. South leaders Mieleras welcomed the U18 national team back with a sweep. Cinnamon surprisingly swept Avispas.
The league started in Brazil on Friday with an encouraging expansion to eleven teams. Two of the newcomers squared off in the opener with Sao Jose defeating Corinthians. A busy Saturday had Ituano defeating Campinas, Araraquara winning at Mesquita, and Santo Andre defeating Catanduva. Blumenau defeated Ponta Grossa on Monday.
Around Europe
It was Kosovo against Albania again in the unified competition and Kosovo swept all three matchups. The quadruple round-robin finished in Kosovo with Mar’Shay Moore turning in a 35 point, 17 rebound, 11 assist triple-double and Adrienne GodBold grabbing 22 rebounds. It was a quiet week in the Baltic, but Agne Antanaviciute had 39 points in Lithunia’s second division. Liva Hermane had a 30 point game in Latvia. Slavia Banska Bystrica handed Piestanske Cajky their first loss that remains in the standings in the upper half in Slovakia. Partizan defeated their Belgrade rivals Red Star in the semifinals, but Mega defeated them in Sunday’s cup final. The double round-robin ended in Romania and Sepsi did hand first place Constanta one loss to send a message for a possible future meeting for the championship. The cup was also awarded in North Macedonia and Kam rolled to an easy win in the final. Vanya Baldacchino had 33 points in cup play in Malta.
Chase for Promotion
In Ukraine’s second division, Valeria Kutsenko had a 32 point game, Kateryna Shtyk had a 33 point game, and Oleksandra Tynshchuk had a 31 point game. A fairly quiet week in Turkey’s second division included Kamaria McDaniel scoring 33 points and Aliyah Collier scoring 36 points in a battle with Danielle Adams, who scored 34 points. Alexus Johnson had 30 points for Barakaldo, which is undefeated in their half of Spain’s third division. LaQuanza Glover grabbed 22 rebounds in Portugal’s second division. Adriana Cutrupi had a 24 rebound effort in Italy’s second division. Shameka McNeill and Michaela Porter had 31 points games while battling each other in Iceland’s second division. Kate Hill had 37 points in an overtime win in Germany’s second division. Keylyn Filewich had 30 points in the other half. 30 points from Kendall Cooper was not enough for a win in France’s second division.
Notable Individual Performances
Oksana Mollova had 36 points in one of two games played in Ukraine. A double round week in Sweden included a 33 point game from Robbi Ryan. Natalie Villaflor had a 48 point game in Norway. In Moldova, Olga Tugui scored 31 points while her teammate Irina Nebesnaia grabbed 24 rebounds. Mia Loyd had 32 points in Luxembourg’s top group while the bottom group to stay in the division was also busy with Eden Nibbelink grabbing 22 rebounds and Bre Gunnels scoring 30 points. In Iceland, Kolbrun Ormannsdottir had 32 points and Korinne Campbell grabbed 20 rebounds. Kennedy Gavin had a 30 point game in Greece. Kat Tudor scored 37 points in the British league. Tayanna Jones had 34 points in Finland. The second phase started in the Czech Republic and Leeza Burdgess had a 24 rebound game. Petra Orlovic had a 16 point, 26 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in Cyprus. In Bulgaria, Taya Robinson had 30 points and Angela Stamboyan had 31 points. Jelena Tadic had a 30 point game in the Bosnian league. Antonia Reissner grabbed 21 boards in Austria.
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