Afrobasket Qualifying
Qualifying for AfroBasket will happen in the zones that the countries are divided up into over the upcoming months. Two teams entered Zone 4 qualifying with the winner of the two game series getting a spot, but both teams are likely to ultimately make the final tournament. Instead of playing a home-and-home series, Kinshasa hosted both games with the Democratic Republic of Congo being the official home team for the opener. Cameroon won Tuesday’s game easily 75-49 and then also won the game on Wednesday 67-50 to win the aggregate 142-99.
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-womens-afrobasket-2025-qualifiers/games/124191-COD-CMR#boxscore
Democratic Republic of Congo [49]: Pembe Iyomi 15 Ebengo Isomi 9 Longomo 8/8r Ikete 4 Nguz 4 Kabongo 3/6r Ngobeleza 2 Samba Muemba 2 Lubata Londa 2 Kaba Mayimona 0/6r Bombolo 0 Watshini Tshiyoyo 0
Cameroon [75]: Fankam Mendjiadeu 16 Ngueko 11/9r Eben 11 Akoa 10/6a Ewodo 8 Mogoun 7 Effa 7 Silatsa 3/11r Feumba 2 Kengne 0 Williams Amayaba 0
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-womens-afrobasket-2025-qualifiers/games/124192-CMR-COD#boxscore
Cameroon [67]: Akoa 15 Eben 10 Effa 9/7r Fankam Mendjiadeu 9 Ewodo 7 Williams Amayaba 6 Mogoun 4 Silatsa 3 Ngueko 2 Feumba 2 Kengne DNP
Democratic Republic of Congo [50]: Ikete 11/7r Kaba Mayimona 10/7r Longomo 8/7s Ngobeleza 6 Nguz 5 Ebengo Isomi 3 Watshini Tshiyoyo 3 Kabongo 2 Lubata Longo 1 Samba Muemba 1 Pembe Iyomi 0 Bombolo DNP
Cameroon advances 142-99
Puerto Rico
The two conference rivals continued the finals on Tuesday even though neither team had been the top seed. Having won the first two games, Guayama needed one more win for the championship and built a comfortable lead in the first half to finish off Yauco. With the weather delays, there had been the possibility that this league would run straight into the opening weekend of the country’s main league, but it was a smooth transition instead.
That league started with three games on Saturday and the first to finish was an excellent game that saw Santurce get past Lares. There was a championship rematch on the opening day too and Manati avenged their last loss to Carolina. Alexis Jennings had 33 points, but Moca came up just short against Isabela. San German is the new team this season and they played on Sunday at home, but they ended up losing to Hatillo. Lares had the tough task of the back-to-back in the first two days and Daja Woodard had 30 points, but the veteran Pamela Rosado showed no signs of slowing down for Morovis, pouring in 39 points to get them the win.
Australia
The championship matchup is set in Big V’s top division after Saturday’s game. The top seed Wyndham was on the verge of being eliminated, but Amanda Paschal had 32 points to lead them past Bellarine and to give themselves another shot to defeat Bulleen. The other two divisions had their championship games on Sunday. Shannon Powell-Ross had 30 points and 21 rebounds and Emmie O’Niall added 23 rebounds to lead Warrandyte to a win over Chelsea in the middle division. In the lowest division, Melbourne University just edged Wallan for the title.
South Korea
The annual draft took place on Tuesday with 28 players trying to make their way to the league. Unlike some recent years, there were no big name foreign-based players or established stars vying for the top spots. The lottery was conducted first with the non-playoff teams having a 50-50 chance at the top pick and it was the S-Birds that edged out BNK for that pick. There was no movement in the quest for the third pick so Hana Bank, the Blue Minx, the Stars, and Woori Bank was the rest of the order.
The first selection in the draft was one of the two foreign-based players as the S-Birds picked Hong Yu-Sun from Japan’s school system. BNK selected Kim Do-Yeon next as the picks returned to the more familiar Korean high school system. Jeong Hyun was picked by Hana Bank, Choi Ye-Seul was picked by the Blue Minx, Song Yun-Ha was picked by the Stars, and then Woori Bank closed out the round by picking Lee Min-Ji.
The second round went in reverse order of the first round if there had been no lottery changes so Woori Bank went first and picked Jeong Chae-Won. The Stars then picked the other player based in Japan, Okakuchi Reiri. The Blue Minx picked Yu Ha-Eun and Hana Bank picked Ha Ji-Yoon. Benefiting from the lottery in the first round, the S-Birds still got their natural pick and took Kim Chae-Eun and then BNK selected Kim Bo-Hyeon. Teams could make third and fourth round picks, but nobody opted to continue the process.
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