Turkish League Quarterfinals Game 2
All series continued on Monday with teams looking to either extend their seasons or advance to the next round. Having already won on the road, Cukurova had the combination of Kahleah Copper and Marina Mabrey looking strong in an 85-76 win over Michaela Onyenwere, Sug Sutton, and Orman. Their next opponent will be Besiktas after Dana Evans and Jovana Nogic helped them have a strong second half to complete the sweep over Jessica Thomas and Nesibe Aydin 98-93. NaLyssa Smith and Galatasaray were also looking to advance with a home win, but Ayse Cora and Jaime Nared helped Izmit tie the series with a 95-83 win. Lyndra Weaver and Lindsay Allen were hoping to get Botas an upset win, but Napheesa Collier and Emma Meesseman made sure that it was Fenerbahce advancing with an 89-73 win.
https://tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl-2023-2024/mac-detay/230658/istatistik
Cukurova [85]: Copper 26 Mabrey 22/10r/9a Williams 15/6r Kiss 12 Hollingsworth 0
Orman [76]: Onyenwere 26/8r Sutton 20 Katanic 13
Cukurova wins series 2-0
https://tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl-2023-2024/mac-detay/230657/istatistik
Nesibe Aydin [93]: Thomas 29/7r/6a Cannon 19/14r Coates 12/7r Guner 10 Zec 10
Besiktas [98]: Evans 25/12a Nogic 20/8r/7a Li 19/14r Bayram 13/8r Krivacevic 7/6r
Besiktas wins series 2-0
https://tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl-2023-2024/mac-detay/230659/istatistik
Galatasaray [83]: Smith 25 Yilmaz 13/7r Hartley 13 Vanloo 12 Herbert Harrigan 5 McCowan 3/6r
Izmit [95]: Cora 30/6r Nared 20/7a Hillsman 17/8r Calhoun 14/7r Ivanova 10
Seried tied 1-1
https://tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl-2023-2024/mac-detay/230656/istatistik
Botas [73]: Weaver 22 Allen 21/7r/9a Mack 17/15r Reimer 11/10r
Fenerbahce [89]: Collier 22/7r Meesseman 20 Milic 13/10r Uzun 10/13a Laksa 8
Fenerbahce wins series 2-0
World of Basketball
Olympic Draw
The Olympic group stage draw was conducted on Tuesday. Teams were drawn into three groups for competitive balance and making sure that there was a spread of teams from the same confederation. Teams will play three games in the group stage in Villeneuve-d’Ascq with the top two teams advancing automatically and being joined by the two best third place teams in the knockout round in Paris.
A: Serbia, Spain, China, Puerto Rico
B: Canada, Nigeria, Australia, France
C: Germany, United States, Japan, Belgium
Asia
The finals started in South Korea on Sunday and there was already a surprise in the first game. The top seeded Stars had the lead early, but Woori Bank had a fantastic fourth quarter to steal a road win 68-62. The teams will meet again in the same place on Tuesday before Woori Bank gets the chance to host.
This weekend marked the completion of another pod of games in Taiwan and Cathay Life won the last game to finish a perfect weekend and tie Taiyuan Textile, but lost the tiebreaker while Chunghwa Telecom failed to pick up a win again.
The playoffs started on Tuesday in China and there were no seeding upsets in the first games, setting up elimination games on Thursday. Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Shanxi got those sweeps, but there was one series that had to continue to Sunday. Shandong managed to edge Xinjiang with a late comeback to pull off the seeding upset and set up a series with Inner Mongolia. Jiangsu will play Zhejiang on that side of the bracket while Sichuan plays Shanxi and Guangdong plays Shanghai.
Australia
The first conference in NBL1 to start play did so this week as the Central group of ten teams in the Adelaide area of South Australia played games over the weekend. There were no massive statlines in the first round, but the Central Districts Lions, Southern Tigers, Sturt Sabres, West Adelaide Bearcats, and the North Adelaide Rockets won their first games.
Ellie Collins had a 19 point, 17 rebound, 11 assist triple-double to end a double-round week in North West Tasmania, keeping Smithton winless and finishing off a perfect week for Penguin. Devonport also swept their games so the two teams are tied at the top of the standings. Ulverstone also lost both games so they are stuck in their place with a big gap in both directions. Latrobe’s two wins left them a game back of the top two teams. Somerset lost both games while Burnie and Wynyard had splits.
Americas
The quarterfinals started in Mexico and Mineras just managed to escape with a home split after edging Cinnamon on Saturday. Mieleras had two easy wins over Toritas. Libelulas finished the weekend with their second win over Blueskas. Avispas and Quetzales split their first two games.
There were three games in Brazil on Tuesday, including a narrow win for Santo Andre at Mesquita. Campinas won at Blumenau and Araraquara was the only home victor after an easy win over Corinthians. Ituano defeated Sao Jose in Wednesday’s game. Campinas had a strong second half on Thursday in a win over Ponta Grossa. Blumenau rolled to a win over Mesquita on Friday. Sao Jose got the win over Catanduva on Saturday and then a rematch of last season’s finals went to Sampaio this time as they look to get the better of Araraquara this time around. There was no game on Sunday, but Tassia Carcavalli had a 16 point, 10 rebound, 11 assist triple-double on Monday to help Santo Andre edge Campinas.
Around Europe
It was the last set of crossover games between the teams from Albania and Kosovo and the latter got another sweep as Adrienne GodBold had 35 points for first place Bashkimi. The playoffs concluded in the Baltic and the Final Four is set with undefeated Riga finding out which teams would join them and they will face Kibirkstis first while Neptunas will face LCC International University. The champion in the Adriatic was determined this weekend after there were no surprises in Saturday’s semifinals. Orlovi defeated Sloga Pozega in Sunday’s first game for third place and then the expected final matchup took place and MVP Lea Bartelme helped Celje rally in the second half to get past hosts Buducnost and win their third straight title. The cup was awarded this weekend in Portugal and Benfica defeated GDESSA for the trophy. Lore Devos had 32 points to help Thor advance to the final in Iceland’s cup on Wednesday, but they lost to Keflavik in the final on Saturday. Ulriken Eagles swept Asker Aliens to finish the championship series in Norway, winning a close game on Tuesday and then getting 30 points from Aurora Sorbye on Saturday before she heads to Wake Forest.
The playoffs started in Slovakia and Piestanske Cajky and Slavia Banska Bystrica had easy sweeps while Anna Kaliuzhna had 32 points to help Ruzomberok join them after Katarina Sediva’s 30 points were not enough for Young Angels Kosice. Sweeps were finished in all the quarterfinals in Romania on Tuesday. Franciska Treiliha had a 30 point game as the playoffs started in Latvia. The regular season in Israel ended on Thursday and featured an overtime game with a 31 point game from Breanna Richardson helping her team offset a 40 point effort by Morgan Batey. The semifinals started on Monday and Jennie Simms had a 22 point, 11 rebound, 10 assist triple-double to win the first game and Shir Tirosh had 33 points to lead her team to a win in the other game. The first two games were played in each quarterfinals series in Germany and Destiny Littleton had 31 points in the second game and could not get her team one win while Erika Davenport had a 30 point game, but could not keep her team out of an 0-2 hole. Frida Buhner scored 33 points in the opener to tie the series for her team. The playoffs started in Finland and included a 39 point game from IImar’I Thomas and a 21 rebound game from Doniyah Cliney. Leeza Burdgess had 20 rebounds, but her team started the Playout in the Czech Republic with a loss.
Chase for Promotion
Bre’Amber Scott had 30 points in a triple-overtime loss in Spain’s second division. The semifinals started in Romania’s second division and Iustina-Gabriela Hurmuz had 31 points, but her team lost their opener in the consolation bracket. Sarah Bennett had a 20 rebound game in Portugal’s second division. The top two teams in one half of Italy’s second division played with Udine expanding their lead on Alpo. Alex Obouh Fegue had a 21 rebound game and Amaiquen Siciliano poured in another 31 points. Maya Girmann had 30 points as Germany’s second division finished their regular season.
The last day of Turkey’s second division was a bit of a farce with four games not played, but the playoff bracket is set with teams looking to join Zonguldak in the top division, though the two reserve teams will be looking to spoil the party for other teams. Bodrum will have homecourt advantage throughout and Aliyah Collier had a 33 point game while Yalova is the lowest seeded non-reserve team, but Kamaria McDaniel warmed up for the path ahead with a 45 point game.
Notable Individual Performances
The last week of the regular season in Ukraine included a 23 rebound game from Anna Sugak and a 34 point game from her teammate Anzhelika Liashko the next day. It was also the end of the regular season in Switzerland and Marjorie Carpeaux had 15 assists and Abigail Fogg had 32 points. The final day of the regular season in Sweden was also busy with Stella Johnson having 31 points in a win while Robbi Ryan had 30 points in the loss and Tiffany Brown had a 33 point game while Raziyah Farrington recorded a 24 point, 12 rebound, 12 assist triple-double.
Ljube Andric had a 30 point effort in the lone game in Montenegro. Lyndsey Whilby had a 35 point, 20 rebound game in Malta. Martha Burse had a 17 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in Luxembourg. An overtime game in Greece saw Lauren Manis scoring 32 point in the win while Kennedy Gavin had 31 points and 20 rebounds in the loss. Carmen Miloglav had a 12 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double to help her team win in double overtime in Croatia while Lana Packovski had 38 points in a different game. Carolina Rodrigues had 31 points in Belgium while Cate Reese reaching the same mark in her game was enough to outscore the opposition. Asia Henderson had a 31 point game in Albania.
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