Africa
Unlike the two zones that had their qualifying the previous week, statistics were not available for Zone 3’s tournament that was played in Monrovia, Liberia this past week. Seven teams entered for the chance to grab one of two automatic places from this region for the main tournament. Invincible Eleven and Commissioners were the two local teams with SOA and Friend’s from the Ivory Coast, Queens and the team representing the Customs Service coming from Nigeria, and Energie of Benin completing the field.
Tuesday was the first day of games and SOA breezed past Commissioners, Customs defeated Energie, and Queens crushed Invicible Eleven. Energie opened Wednesday with a big win over Energie, Customs got past SOA, and Friend’s defeated Queens. Group play finished on Thursday with the top two teams in each group earning the spots in the key semifinal games. Energie eliminated SOA first and then Customs won the other game early in the fourth quarter once enough players fouled out to leave Commissioners with one player. Friend’s eliminated Invincible Eleven in the other group. Saturday’s semifinals started with Friend’s absolutely cruising past Energie for one automatic spot. The two Nigerian teams played in the other game and Queens stunned Customs, which had brought in foreign players for this tournament. Sunday was the final day of play and Friend’s edged the championship game against Queens while Customs defeated Energie for third place.
Asia
All series in Japan were played on a Saturday-Sunday schedule this week. The Antelopes picked up their first two wins of the season, including surviving a double-overtime game where Izoje Uche had 30 points for the Magic. The Sunflowers survived a pair of close games against the Sunshine Rabbits to finish their sweep. The Cougars finally got their first win in their series opener, but the Wings did bounce back for a split. The two top teams met and the Red Wave handed the Iris their first two losses to take over first place.
In the second division, the Vickies got a sweep against the Koalas to keep the teams tied for first place. The Aranmare kept the Egrets winless, including getting a 20 rebound game from Niang Ndeye Coumba. The Rabbits earned a split with the Queen Bees to keep the gap between the two in the standings.
There were a pair of series played in Kazakhstan and both finished with home sweeps. Turan got 10 steals from Oksana Bagmet in the second win against Aqtobe. Astana got the better of Caspiy in the other series. The second division finished their first pod with games on Monday and Tuesday with Karaganda ending up as the lone winless team while Zhetisu and Astana’s reserve team finished with one loss apiece.
Another week started on Wednesday in South Korea as BNK handed the Stars their first loss. The S-Birds picked up their first win on Thursday over the Blue Minx. Woori Bank defeated Hana Bank on Friday and then BNK defeated the S-Birds on Saturday. The Blue Minx were the last team to pick up a win, doing so over the Stars on Sunday. BNK remained undefeated after Monday’s win over Hana Bank.
New Zealand
Another round started on Thursday and the Whai picked up a pair of wins over the Pouakai. The Pouakai lost the reserve game to the Kahu on Saturday, but bounced back in the main game. The Queens got a solid win over the Hoiho in the reserve game and then edged out a win in the main game.
Around Europe
With national teams playing this week, most top divisions observed the international break, but some countries that are not participating in EuroBasket qualification had full rounds. Malta was one of those places, having their regular season start, and Janae Barnes had a 21 rebound game. In Kosovo, Tanyia Gordon had 30 points, but Alaina Rice had an 18 point, 19 rebound, 12 assist triple-double to get her team the win while Dana Thompson had 30 points in another game. In Cyprus, Oceane Kounkou had 30 points and Mariah Miller had 34 points. In Albania, Liliane Ikete had 33 points and her teammate A’Lexxus Davis had 25 rebounds while Jainaya Jones had a 32 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in the loss.
One game was also played in the European league with Czech club Ostrava winning in Poland against Polonia Warszawa. It was only a partial round in Portugal, but Becca Wann-Taylor had a 16 point, 14 rebound, 10 assist triple-double. Estonia played through the break and Simona Bartkova had a 30 rebound game. A lone game in Bulgaria had Ralitsa Kenareva recording a 14 point, 13 rebound, 20 assist triple-double.
Chase for Promotion
Since lower division teams are less likely to have national team caliber players, many of them had full rounds still. In Ukraine’s second division, Alisa Yagodka had a 23 rebound game and Kateryna Shtyk recorded a 28 point, 10 rebound, 12 assist triple-double. Turkey’s second division had a 22 rebound game from Feray Laic, a 30 point effort from Yacine Diop in a win that saw Zakyia Weathersby score 34 points for the opposition, Shelby Cheslek grabbing 25 rebounds against her former team, and Doniyah Cliney scoring 30 points in a game that saw Kurstyn Harden score 35 points in the loss. In Romania’s second division, Elina Herban had a 21 rebound game and Bianca Sirbu had a 34 point effort. Aurelija Jurkiene had 32 rebounds in a game in Lithuania’s second division. In Iceland’s second division, Jonina Karlsdottir had a 19 point, 14 rebound, 10 assist triple-double, Danielle Shafer scored 43 points, and Brazil Harvey-Carr had 32 points and 25 rebounds.
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