Puerto Rico
After weather postponed the opener in the finals on Tuesday, the series did start on Thursday and Guayama took care of business at home with a win over Yauco. The teams moved to Yauco for the second game on Saturday and Guayama won again to put themselves a game away from the championship.
Australia
The national champion was determined in the NBL1 with a team from each conference joining the defending champions, the Bendigo Braves, in playing in the quarterfinals on Friday. With only six teams, the three winners would be joined by one losing team based on their performance. Bendigo, which had struggled in their bid to win the South again, got the 6 seed and faced the 1 seed and West champion Rockingham Flames, getting 35 points from Megan McKay and a 16 point, 10 rebound, 17 assist triple-double from Kelly Wilson for the immediate seeding upset. Even with the North conference hosting, multiple top teams declined to field a team for this tournament until the Southern Districts Spartans stepped up and claimed the 4 seed, losing to the 3 seed and Central champion Central Districts Lions , which got 22 rebounds from Lilly Ritz. The last game was a battle of the Falcons, and having won the South championship from a lower position in the standings, Waverley got the 5 seed, but their run continued with another win as the East champion Newcastle got 31 points from Nicole Munger, but losing a key starter to college made them less of a dangerous 2 seed.
Rockingham took the last semifinals spot by just edging their way to the tiebreaker, completing the field for Saturday. Bendigo made it back to the championship game after their win over Central Districts in the first matchup. Rockingham was eliminated after losing again, this time to surging Waverley. The two eliminated teams from the first day also played a game to end their seasons and it was Southern Districts with the win over Newcastle. The semifinals results set up a championship game with both teams from the South conference on Sunday. Waverley secured the title early, getting 33 points from Bec Cole to dethrone Bendigo to win their 13th straight game and 18 out of 19 after a 2-8 start to the season.
The playoffs continued in Big V on Saturday and Bellarine eliminated Pakenham with 20 rebounds from Bridgette Rettstatt. Their next opponent will be Wyndham after the top seed lost their game against Bulleen to determine the first team to earn a direct spot in the final. In the middle division, Emmie O’Nial had 20 rebounds and Warrandyte eliminated Altona to set up a rematch with Chelsea. In the bottom division, Melbourne University knocked out the top seed Surf Coast to advance to a game against Wallan.
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