World of Basketball May 13th

Asia

The finals started in Kazakhstan with Turan taking the first two games despite all games being played at the home of their opponents Aktobe. The site is acting as more of a neutral location for the bronze medal series with Astana winning both games over Tomiris. The second division started a new phase at a different site for the first time with Zhetisu in Taldykorgan as the depature of Okzhetpes’s reserve team made scheduling simpler for a full round-robin. There was no surprise when they defeated their own reserve team in the opener on Sunday while Shymkent defeated Karaganda.

The finals concluded in Taiwan this week, starting with a game on Thursday. Allowing foreign players this season had not made much of a difference, but that changed as Cayla George grabbed 20 rebounds in Cathay Life’s win to go along with being the leading scorer. That result meant that Taiyuan Textile needed to win on Saturday to force a deciding game on Sunday. They had a lead heading into the final quarter, but got forced into overtime and then George had another 22 rebounds while being the only player to play every second to secure the championship and maintain their dominance.

Australia

The South conference of NBL1 continues to be busy as there are still plenty of teams that will figure to be in contention later in the season. Cierra Dillard had quite the scoring weekend for the Melbourne Tigers in Tasmania, following up a 46 point game with a 31 point game that came in a loss because Keely Froling had her own 31 point effort for the Launceston Tornadoes. The Ringwood Hawks were victimized by big scoring outputs twice after Gemma Potter dropped 34 points on them for the Diamond Valley Eagles and then Shaneice Swain hit the 30 point mark for Geelong. Chloe Bibby had a 31 point game for the Ballarat Miners.

It was not the busiest weekend in the North conference, but the Northside Wizards picked up a pair of wins to stay in the lead. The North Gold Coast Seahawks continued to rely on their star duo, getting 34 and 39 point games from Miela Goodchild while Mikaela Ruef followed up a 25 rebound game with a ridiculous 19 point, 30 rebound, 10 assist triple-double. Their latter win had Kahlaijah Dean’s 38 points not being enough for the Ipswich Force. Carlie Smith had a 30 point game for the Sunshine Coast Phoenix and Leah Scott rounded out the schedule with a 35 point game in a loss for the South West Metro Pirates.

The Rockingham Flames expanded their lead in the loss column in the West conference. The Cockburn Cougars won a pair of games, getting 21 rebounds from Daniel Raber on Friday and 30 points from Alex Ciabattoni on Saturday. The halfway point has virtually been reached in the Central conference and the Central Districts Lions are still looking strong with a number of teams in contention, getting a 32 point game from Casey Samuels in their latest win.

Lauren Jackson continues to put up big statlines for the Albury Wodonga Bandits in the East conference with 33 and 37 point games. The other two undefeated teams met and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles withstood a 32 point game from Nicole Munger for the Newcastle Falcons to stay perfect. The biggest scoring game of the weekend came from Tahlia Tupaea, who had 39 points in a Penrith Panthers loss. Janeen Camp had a 23 rebound game for the Sydney Comets.

The end of the season is approaching in North West Tasmania and the Latrobe Demons withstood a 32 point game from Zoe Mesman to defeat the Wynyard Wildcats and stay in the lead. Emma Menzie had 10 steals and the Devonport Warriors won against the Somerset Heat to stay even with them. As the top half is set now, the teams in the bottom half are playing for pride and Nikki Parker had 37 points in a win for the Ulverstone Hoppers over the Burnie Tigers. The Penguin Blues defeated the last place Smithton Saints.

The leading scorer in Big V’s top division this weekend was Amanda Paschal, who had a 35 point game for Wyndham. Maddi Geislinger continues to grab a ton of rebounds in the lower division for Collingwood with another 24 boards.

Americas

A new week in Brazil started on Tuesday with Ponta Grossa defeating Sao Jose. On Wednesday, Campinas won at Mesquita and then Santo Andre rolled past Ituano. Blumenau defeated Sao Jose on Thursday. Araraquara returned from their continental adventure and lost to Corinthians on Friday. There were two games on Saturday and Sampaio crushed Ponta Grossa while Ituano was fantastic late to win at Mesquita. On Sunday, the early game was Santo Andre’s win over Corinthians and then it was closer for Campinas, but they defeated Blumenau. The only game on Monday was an easy win for Araraquara over Sao Jose.

All of the series in Mexico this week ran on a Thursday-Friday schedule. San Luis Potosi, the only new team this season, made their debut this week with the tough task of hosting champions Chihuahua. Danielle Adams torched them with 32 points in the first game and they also could not pick up their first win the next day. Leon won an overtime thriller and then edged Tamaulipas with a second half comeback for an impressive sweep. Monterrey also earned a sweep, finishing a massive comeback for the first win and then maintaining a more comfortable margin before leaving Veracruz. One series did finish in a split after Irapuato avenged the pasting that they had gotten in the first quarter of the first game at Aguascalientes with an easy win.

Around Europe

Mega completed a sweep over Red Star Belgrade to win the championship in Serbia on Saturday. The championship came down to one game in Luxembourg on Thursday and it looked like Dudelange would win on the road early, but Grengewald Hueschtert dominated the fourth quarter to prevail. The semifinals finished in Iceland with two teams looking to join Njardvik in the finals and Denia Davis-Stewart had 24 rebounds, but Stjarnan lost to Keflavik. Orlovi finished a sweep of Lavovi on Saturday to win the Bosnian championship.

Chase for Promotion

Both teams have won promotion, but the finals started in Portugal’s second division with Schekinah Bimpa grabbing 20 rebounds in Vagos’s win over Sanjoanense. Athena defeated Tindastoll in Game 4 on Tuesday to win the series for determining Iceland’s top division makeup. Rotenburg defeated Wasserburg in the championship game of Germany’s second division on Saturday, but they also confirmed that they are declining the spot in the top division while their opponents are still making a decision on their return to a competition that they dominated for years. On Thursday, Bad Homburg defeated Bochum for the bronze medal. The spot in France’s top division will come down to a deciding game on Saturday after Toulouse evened their series with Chartres.