World of Basketball October 21st

Puerto Rico

The semifinals continued on Tuesday with Santurce building a big enough lead that they withstood Moca’s late push and moved within a game of advancing. Carolina took a big lead early on Wednesday and then withstood one big push from Hatillo to finish the sweep. Moca tried their best to avoid elimination on Thursday, but Santurce advanced as the top seed with another win. The finals started on Saturday and Carolina was able to steal the first game on the road to flip homecourt advantage to their favor. They took the lead at home early on Monday and put Santurce in an even tougher positions when they head back home.

New Zealand

The week of games started on Friday with the Whai winning the reserve game, but the Queens got 33 points from Jordan Horston to hold off the visitors in the main game despite 32 points from Ashley Joens. The Kahu got the reserve game on Saturday, but 37 points still left them short in the main game and the Pouakai got the win. The Whai had the same problem on Sunday, winning the reserve game, but falling to the Hoiho in the main contest.

Japan

All four series were on a Saturday-Sunday schedule, including the Iris sweeping the Cougars. The Magic got an impressive win in the first game, but the Sunflowers bounced back and salvaged a split. The Red Wave swept the Antelopes and the Wings swept the Sunshine Rabbits. The technical issues of the first weekend were resolved so the second division series results were available, including a Koalas sweep of the Queen Bees and a Vickies sweep of the Egrets. Niang Kumba had 21 rebounds in the second game for the Aranmare to help them split with the Rabbits.

Around Europe

The big club from each country met in the Baltic and Kibirkstis won even though Mia Loyd had 32 points for Riga. The season started in Montenegro and Shernecia Martin had a 23 rebound game. League play began in the new British league, including Taylor O’Brien scoring 34 points in a win.

Chase for Promotion

The second division started in Ukraine and Ksenia Turovtseva had the highest scoring game with 38 points while Viktoriya Pazyuk had 22 rebounds in an overtime win. Zamora lost so Leganes is the only undefeated team left in Spain’s second division. Latvia’s second division started play. Silvia Colognesi had 20 rebounds in Italy’s second division in the half where San Giovanni Valdarno is the only remaining undefeated team. Fleur Devillers had 31 points in France’s second division, which had its two remaining undefeated teams both fall.

It was a busy weekend in Turkey’s second division with Yacine Diop grabbing 22 rebounds and Sibel Balcioglu scoring 34 points in a loss. Other Turkish players also got into the act with Misra Albayrak scoring 32 points. Doniyah Cliney was the leading scorer with a 37 point game and Zakyia Weathersby got 20 rebounds. Andjela Radovic had a 10 point, 10 rebound, 11 assist triple-double in Serbia’s second division. Iustina-Gabriela Hurmuz had 30 points in a loss in Romania’s second division and they lost again in a game where Maria Belegante scored 32 points in the win. Matilde Santos had a 10 steal game in Portugal’s second division. In Lithuania’s second division, Goda Vasurenkaite had a 15 assist effort and Agne Antanaviciute grabbed 29 rebounds.

Notable Individual Performances

Mykea Gray had a 33 point game in Switzerland to help her team win after Nicole Flennaugh had 30 points for the opposition. Jessica Kelliher had a 34 point game in Sweden. Carolina Silva had a 31 point game in Portugal while Estefani Fajardo had 30 points and Anaya Peoples had an 18 point, 15 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in a loss. Mikayla Brandon had 20 rebounds and 15 assists in a game in Malta. Big numbers in Luxembourg over the weekend included a 41 point game from Mikayla Ferenz, a 24 rebound game from Alexus Johnson, and a 28 rebound game from Olivia Lane. Malia Bambrick and Valeria Aleksieva had 30 points each in a win in Lithuania. A duel in Kosovo had Jayla Johnson scoring 32 points while Jasmine Joyner had 30 points and left with the win as the highest scoring game was Vivian Woo’s 33 point effort. Cierra Dillard had 31 points in Israel and Dariauna Lewis scored 30 points.

There were big scoring games in Iceland as Randi Brown had 32 points, Alexis Morris had 35 points, and Abby Beeman hit the 44 point mark. A fantastic game in Greece had Honesty Scott-Grayson scoring 38 points in the win after Jessica Shepard had 31 points for the opposition. Cierra Walker had a 20 point, 12 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in Finland and then Carmen Tyson-Thomas had a 31 point game. Ellen Iversen had a 24 rebound game in an overtime loss in Denmark. Tamia Lawhorne had a 30 point game in Croatia. Marina Ristic dished out 18 assists in the Bosnian league. C’Erra Maholmes had a 32 point, 16 rebound, 11 assist triple-double in Albania in a game that saw Jainaya Jones score 41 points in the loss.