World of Basketball July 28th

Americas

The championship came down to one game in Brazil on Tuesday and it certainly lived up to expectations. Sampaio was hosting and had the lead at the end of the first quarter, but the game stayed close throughout and ended up going to overtime. The extra frame was dominated by Araraquara and, after staring at a sweep, they won all three remaining games to defend their title successfully.

The finals started in Mexico with Chihuahua hosting the first two games. Monterrey had the better start on Friday, but the home team and top seed recovered for a solid win. Chihuahua extended their lead in the series on Saturday with a close win. Monterrey will host up to three games next as long as they avoid the sweep.

It was the end of the regular season in Puerto Rico with a few games that had to be moved to Monday and then the last game was forfeited on Tuesday. Ponce finished at the top of the Southeast section while Mayaguez was winless. Catano was perfect in the Northeast while Toa Baja was winless.

That set the stage for the Sweet 16 that started on Wednesday with Bayamon, the 3 seed in the Northeast, defeating Salinas, the 6 seed in the Southeast. There were four games on Thursday, including top seed Ponce defeating the 8 seed in Northeast, Trujillo Alto, and the other top seed Catano eventually getting past the 8 seed in the Southeast, Veja Baja. The 2 seed in the Northeast, Toa Alta, rolled past the 7 seed in the Southeast, Adjuntas. The other game saw the 4 seed in the Northeast, Carolina, pull away late from the 5 seed in the Southeast, Arecibo. The 5 seed in the Northeast provided the only seeding upset when Juliana Rosario scored 30 points in Guaynabo’s win at the 4 seed in the Southeast, Isabela. Guayama, the 2 seed in the Southeast, rolled past Humacao, the 7 seed in the Northeast. Jullie Ruiz put on another show with 38 points for Yauco, the 3 seed in the Southeast, in their win over Las Piedras, the 6 seed in the Northeast.

The Elite 8 started on Sunday with two series tipping off and the other two starting the next week. Ponce got 20 rebounds from Lesiriam Pagan to start their matchup with Carolina with a win. The other top seed Catano also won, rolling past Guaynabo.

Australia

The playoffs continued in NBL1’s South conference with elimination games on Saturday. The Ballarat Miners stunned the top seed Knox Raiders in the second half to eliminate the top seed, their second straight loss after only losing twice in the regular season. The Waverley Falcons got 32 points from Carley Ernst to eliminate the Dandendong Rangers. Next weekend’s matchups will have Ballarat trying to knock off the next highest seed during their visit to the Keilor Thunder and Waverley will make the trip to visit the Mt. Gambier Pioneers.

The semifinals were played in the North conference on Saturday and the top seed Northside Wizards had a strong second half to eliminate the North Gold Coast Seahawks, which got 25 rebounds from Mikaela Ruef. They will host the Rockhampton Cyclones to start the championship series next weekend after the second-place team used that homecourt advantage to send the Townsville Flames packing.

The playoffs started in the West conference with the teams in the bottom half playing elimination games on Friday. The Willetton Tigers won the first game, eliminating the Joondalup Wolves. The Perth Redbacks were missing their star because of the Olympics and the Lakeside Lightning quickly took advantage, getting 33 points from Caitlyn Jones in a big win on the road. The top four teams played for direct spots in the semifinals and the Cockburn Cougars controlled the second half to win against the Warwick Senators, which got 30 points from Karly Murphy. The top seed Rockingham Flames defeated the Perry Lakes Hawks on Saturday to also advance. Warwick will host Lakeside and Perry Lakes will host Willetton.

There were two elimination games in the East conference with a shocker on Saturday. Even without their star and key depth, the top seed Albury Wodonga Bandits were expected to find some way of staying alive, but 40 points and 26 rebounds from Unique Thompson was not enough and the Sutherland Sharks got 32 points from Lauren Nicholson to advance. The other game was on Sunday and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles made sure that they would not face a seeding upset, cruising past the Central Coast Crusaders. Sutherland will face the Norths Bears and Manly Warringah will face the Newcastle Falcons next weekend.

On Saturday in the Central conference, two teams were facing elimination in their matchup and the Forestville Eagles defeated the North Adelaide Rockets at home. The other game was between the top two teams with the first spot in the finals on the line and the Central Districts Lions won on the road. That result leaves the Sturt Sabres hosting Forestville next weekend to determine which other team will play in the final.

There is one weekend left in the Big V regular season and it was a fairly quiet week for the top division. In the two lower divisions, the Mildura Heat were the first team to finish out their schedule in the top half. The Surf Coast Chargers finished their schedule in the lower half and secured the top spot with Jess Scannell scoring 32 points. Maddi Geislinger had a 23 rebound game for Collingwood.