Italian League Round 20 March 9th-11th
Another team was given the round off because of international play so the only game on Saturday was Brixia’s 78-69 win over Battipaglia behind Maddie Garrick. On Sunday, Ragusa recovered in the second half for a 66-64 win over Marzia Tagliamento and Faenza. Tinara Moore led Sesto San Giovanni to a 66-61 win over Leia Dongue and Oxygen Roma. Sanga Milano took advantage of other leagues ending early to bring in some help alongside Helmi Tulonen, but it was not enough in an 82-63 loss to Miroslava Mistinova and Campobasso. The biggest game was on Monday and Schio got the edge on hosting a possible semifinals rematch with a 71-61 win over Bologna.
March 9
https://www.legabasketfemminile.com/MatchStats.aspx?ID=300&MID=51979
Brixia [78]: Garrick 22/13r Louka 18/9r Zanardi 17 Tassinari 11 Boothe 3
Battipaglia [69]: Ferrari 14/6r Policari 14 Johnson 12/6r Potolicchio 10
March 10
https://www.legabasketfemminile.com/MatchStats.aspx?ID=300&MID=51980
Faenza [64]: Tagliamento 21 Dixon 14/9r Peresson 8 Brossmann 4/6r
Ragusa [66]: Thomas 17/8r Spreafico 13 Chidom 11/11r Juskaite 11 Jakubcova 5 Nikolic 0
https://www.legabasketfemminile.com/MatchStats.aspx?ID=300&MID=51982
Sesto San Giovanni [66]: Moore 24/10r Begic 10/7r Dotto 10/8a Gwathmey 8 Conti 0
Oxygen Roma [61]: Dongue 23/6r Kalu 14/7r Romeo 12/6r/6a Bongiorno 1
https://www.legabasketfemminile.com/MatchStats.aspx?ID=300&MID=51984
Sanga Milano [63]: Tulonen 22 Dornstauder 12/9r Toffali 11
Campobasso [82]: Mistinova 21 Quinonez 15 Kunaiyi-Akpanah 14/9r Dedic 10 Morrison 4
March 11
https://www.legabasketfemminile.com/MatchStats.aspx?ID=300&MID=51981
Bologna [61]: Zandalasini 18/6r Peters 11 Pasa 10 Rupert 9 Dojkic 9 Cox 2
Schio [71]: Sottana 14 Parks 12/9r Juhasz 9 Guirantes 9 Reisingerova 4 Penna 0
Standings:
1. Venezia 17-1
2. Bologna 15-4
3. Schio 14-3
4. Sesto San Giovanni 14-5
5. Campobasso 12-6
6. Ragusa 11-7
7. San Martino di Lupari 9-8
8. Brixia 7-11
9. Oxygen Roma 6-11
10. Sassari 6-12
11. Faenza 4-15
12. Sanga Milano 2-17
13. Battipaglia 1-18
World of Basketball
Asia-Oceania
A full weekend in Japan started with a Friday-Saturday series that the Vickies swept after prevailing in overtime against the Aranmare. There is now a three-way tie for first place after the Iris handed the Sunflowers a loss in the second game and Izoje Uche had 30 points and 22 rebounds in an overtime win for the Magic to split with the Antelopes. The Red Wave took advantage after their sweep of the Sunshine Rabbits to join the top two. The Egrets are still firmly in last place after being swept by the Koalas. Above them, the Rabbits were swept by the Cougars. The Queen Bees prevailed in a double-overtime affair in the opener, but the Wings bounced back and salvaged a split.
The playoffs started in South Korea with the best of five semifinals that opened on Saturday. The Stars won both of their home games against Hana Bank, getting 22 rebounds from Park Ji-Su in the Monday game. The other series started on Sunday and the Blue Minx stole the first game on the road at Woori Bank.
The league in Taiwan returned from their break for another weekend of games. Cathay Life handed Taiyuan Textile their first loss to end the games on Sunday, surprisingly their only win in this pod, but the process of integrating a foreign player could help them down the stretch after the rumored rule change took effect. Taiwan Power was the other team to get two wins this time out, defeating Chunghwa Telecom in Sunday’s first game.
Shaanxi was the first team to finish their season in China with the other teams having one or two games remaining in the regular season before the All Star festivities taking place before the playoffs. Liaoning officially clinched the last playoff spot while there is still competition for the last bye and the exact seeding for teams in the first round.
A double round week in North West Tasmania included a 31 point game from Emani Mayo. Penguin won both of their games to sit in the lead by a game. Smithton continues to be the only winless team with Ulverstone’s two losses also leaving them quite far away from the top half. Somerset’s split left them a game back of four teams.
Americas
A weekend round in Mexico was highlighted by Libelulas sweeping Mineras in a series between the top two teams in the North. Also in their division, Quetzales swept Husky’s. Mieleras is undefeated after two easy wins over Toritas. The last series to finish on Sunday had Cinnamon finishing off a sweep of Blueskas to jump above them in the win column in the South.
Sampaio was the last team to start their season and they won Tuesday’s first game against Mesquita, which was followed by a Campinas win over Araraquara. On Thursday, Santo Andre defeated Sao Jose. A Friday doubleheader had Corinthians winning at Ponta Grossa and Araraquara edging Ituano. Mesquita defeated Catanduva on Saturday. Corinthians won at Blumenau on Sunday. Araraquara defeated Santo Andre in the sole Monday game.
Around Europe
The European league came down to one game for the trophy on Saturday and hosts Polonia Warszawa defeated Frankivsk to end the season. The championship was also decided in the Alpe Adria Cup after Piestanske Cajky defeated Slavia Banska Bystrica in the all-Slovakian final and Triglav defeated Split for third place. The playoffs are set in the Adriatic and Buducnost narrowly avoided getting knocked out of the top seed while Orlovi got 38 points from Aleksandra Muzevic to prevail in overtime and sit in third place. Orlovi also had a good game domestically on Sunday, capturing the Bosnian Cup. In the unified Albania-Kosovo competition, Asianae Johnson had 30 points and Asia Henderson had 22 rebounds. In Albania, Morina Bojka had 30 points, Marinela Gjergji had 21 rebounds, and Bernada Rreshpja nearly singlehandedly won the game for her team with a 43 point, 10 rebound, 11 assist triple-double. There were no big shifts in the Baltic, but Evelina Otto did have a 32 point game and Mila Luzgina had a 22 point, 10 rebound, 13 assist triple-double.
The cup was finished with three days of knockout play in Romania before the playoffs start. Constanta got the big semifinal win, withstanding 38 points from Borislava Hristova for Sepsi, and then defeated Targoviste in the final, giving themselves plenty of momentum for the expected league championship matchup. Depiro defeated Luxol to win the cup in Malta. Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Elitzur Ramla to win the cup in Israel and then turned around and handed them their first league loss. Shae Kelly had 33 points and Dor Saar had 30 points to help their team win and Crystal Bradford had a 22 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double. Paige Robinson had a 32 point game as the regular season finished in Germany and the top seed came down to the final day with the upstarts from Berlin beating out the more established Keltern.
Chase for Promotion
41 points from Kamaria McDaniel was not enough for a win in Turkey’s second division while Ionna McKenzie grabbed 20 rebounds. Three of the four quarterfinals series started in Romania’s second division and Olimpia Bucuresti already completed two games, finishing a sweep of Politehnica Timisoara. LaQuanza Glover had 23 rebounds in Portugal’s second division. The Italian second division took a break for the cup matching the top four teams in each half and it was Udine, which got 21 rebounds from Kintala Katshitshi, that defeated Scrivia, which got 32 points from Beatrice Attura, in a final that matched the top team in each section. Aniya Thomas had a 37 point game in Iceland’s second division and then the round finished with Shameka McNeill scoring 46 points in a loss that saw Eyglo Oskarsdottir grab 21 rebounds for the opposition. Kayla Simmons had a 32 point game in Germany’s second division and Chanell Williams had a 35 point game.
Notable Individual Performances
Oksana Fastova had a 31 point game in Ukraine. In Sweden, Josefin Vesterberg had 22 rebounds and Jessica Kelliher had 21 rebounds. Sara Sambolic had a 10 point, 11 rebound, 12 assist triple-double in Slovenia in a game that saw Katja Kotnik grab 20 rebounds for the opposition while Mojca Jelenc had a 30 point game. Dunja Buzadzin had a 30 point game in Serbia. A duel in Portugal had Maria Lopes scoring 30 points to get a win as Becca Wann-Taylor had 31 points in the loss. In Montenegro, Natalija Spaic had 33 points and Andrea Djordjevic had 20 rebounds to help their team win. Irina Nebesnaia nearly outscored the opposition in Moldova and finished with 35 points and 27 rebounds. Alexia Allesch had a 30 point game in Luxembourg. Lauren Manis and Sierra Moore each had 32 points in Greece with the latter getting the win. Randi Brown had 33 points in Finland while Saana Kujala had a 31 point game. Katarina Tamm and Trine Kasemagi had 30 points games against each other in Estonia.
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