World of Basketball October 28th

Puerto Rico

Santurce looked to be in real trouble in the finals when they hosted Game 3 on Wednesday, but they did enough in the second half to get their first win. Carolina hosted on Friday, but Santurce’s second half allowed them to even the series. Whichever team won on Saturday would be a game away from the championship and Santurce managed their third straight win. That left Carolina facing elimination at home on Monday, but Shae Kelley had 21 rebounds to help Santurce grab the championship after four straight wins.

New Zealand

The round started on Friday with the Kahu sweeping both games against the Pouakai. The Whai won the reserve game on Saturday, but the Queens prevailed when the full teams met. The Pouakai’s reserve team started with a win on Sunday, but the Hoiho finished the week with a win in the main game.

Asia

All the series in Japan were on a Saturday-Sunday schedule this week and the Iris swept the Wings. Those results left them as the sole undefeated team after the Sunflowers earned a split over the Red Wave. The Antelopes were swept by the Sunshine Rabbits and Cougars were swept by the Magic to leave both teams winless. In the second division, the Vickies swept the Aranmare with wins on Wednesday and Thursday. They are the only undefeated team after the Koalas lost to the Rabbits in the second game of a Friday-Saturday series. The last two winless teams played on a Saturday-Sunday schedule and the Queen Bees won both games against the Egrets.

There was one series in Kazakhstan last Monday and Tuesday with Okzhetpes making their debut and grinding out a pair of wins over Aktobe.

The season started in South Korea with a pair of games on Sunday and Monday as the league lost two stars to overseas adventures despite still paying quite well. That was balanced out by being able to draft from a pool of available Japanese players to add depth. Even though they lost their anchor, the Stars defeated Hana Bank in the opener. Monday’s game had Woori Bank recovering from their major departure, but the great Kim Dan-Bi showed no signs of slowing down with 34 points in their win over the S-Birds.

Around Europe

The European league started with one game on Sunday in Ostrava, Czechia that the hosts won over Switzerland’s Nyon. Poland’s Polonia Warszawa and Ukraine’s Frankivsk will also join the competition, which will be a double round-robin, including games frequently played in single-site pods. The Adriatic included a 19 point, 12 rebound, 10 assist triple-double from Sarah Boothe and a wild game that saw Bozica Mujovic score 40 points to lead her team to a win while Safiyyah Lee had 32 points and Aleksandra Muzevic had 30 points in the loss. Mikayla Brandon had 25 rebounds in Malta’s cup.

Chase for Promotion

Yacine Diop was the high scorer in Turkey’s second division this week with 37 points in a narrow win while Keiunna Walker had 31 points and Doniyah Cliney had 30 points. Francisca Braga grabbed 20 rebounds in Portugal’s second division while Sienna Durr had a 41 point game. Vakare Griskute had a 17 point, 11 rebound, 11 assist triple-double in Lithuania’s second division. In Iceland’s second division, Alarie Mayze had a 36 point game while her teammate Jonina Karlsdottir turned in a 21 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double and Carlotta Ellenrieder had a 26 rebound effort in another game. Lara Brinkmann had 23 rebounds in Germany’s second division.

Notable Individual Performances

In Switzerland, Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman had 32 points and Mykea Gray had 31 points. Olga Yatskovets had a 36 point game in Slovakia. Sofija Zdrnja had a 31 point game in Serbia. Mariana Duran had a 16 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in a loss in Portugal. Victoria Birna had a 46 point game in Moldova while her teammate Evelina Poltavet grabbed 25 rebounds. In Luxembourg, Alexus Johnson had 31 points and Lauren Van Kleunen had 30 points.

Tanyia Gordon had a 31 point game in Kosovo while another matchup had Saquita Joyner scoring 31 points in the win while Vivian Woo scored 30 points in the loss. There were a couple of overtime games in Israel as Alexis Prince had 31 points in a win while Feyonda Fitzgerald had 31 points in her win, getting past Dariauna Lewis, who had 32 points. In Iceland, Alyssa Cerino had a 32 point game, Brittany Dinkins had a 30 point game, and Amandine Toi had a 32 point game. Honesty Scott-Grayson had a 31 point game in a loss in Greece. Claire Jacobs had a 32 point game in the British league. Cassidy Mihalko had a 34 point game in Germany.

Carmen Tyson-Thomas had a 33 point game in Finland. Kayleigh Truong had 31 points in a loss in the Czech league. In Croatia, Aliyah-Deen Ahmad had 34 points, Lana Packovski had 31 points, and Tamia Lawhorne had 32 points. Karolina Kirilova had a 32 point game in Bulgaria. In the Bosnian league, Natasa Sobot had 32 points in a loss where Ksenija Kuzmanovic had 30 points in the win and Destiny Bohanon grabbed 22 rebounds in her game. Bernada Rreshpja had a 30 point game in Albania while a big matchup had Jainaya Jones scoring 37 points only to see Marina Pellumbi score 38 points in the win.