World of Basketball January 6th

Asia

Wednesday marked the start of the first round after the break in South Korea and the Blue Minx maintained a gap between the top and bottom halves of the standings with a win over the Stars. The two teams below them played on Thursday with Hana Bank getting the win over the S-Birds. The Stars then shocked first place BNK on Friday. The Blue Minx pulled even with Woori Bank after defeating them on Saturday. BNK bounced back with a win over Hana Bank on Sunday. The S-Birds stayed out of last place with a win over the Blue Minx on Monday.

Al Nassr continued to be undefeated in Saudi Arabia after their latest win over Al Ula. Al Ahli is right behind them after their win over winless Al Okhdood. Al Ittihad edged Al Qadisiyah in Saturday’s other game.

It was the first weekend of the regular season in Taiwan with the typical three game pod format employed again as the next games in this stage will be next weekend. Teams are allowed foreign players again, but only Taiyuan Textile opted to start the season with one as they brought in Marie Gulich. They won all their games, followed by Cathay Life, Chunghwa Telecom, and winless Taipower in the standings.

Around Europe

The last two undefeated teams in the Baltic met with Kibirkstis getting the win at Neptunas. Sam Breen had a 22 rebound game in Switzerland. Florina Stanici played her first game as a 43 year old in Romania. An overtime battle in Portugal saw Becca Wann-Taylor score 31 points in the win while Genesis Rivera had 33 points in the loss. In Malta, Olesia Malashenko debuted with 30 points and 23 rebounds and Kennedi Williams had a 32 point game. Abby Beeman had a 32 point, 10 rebound, 16 assist triple-double in Iceland and Maddie Sutton grabbed 26 rebounds. Claire Jacobs had a 31 point game in the British league. In the German league, Nicole Fransson had 31 points and Zippy Broughton had 35 points. Alexis Cortez had a 40 point game in Finland. In Belgium, Louise De Geest had a 21 rebound effort and Cate Reese had a 35 point, 23 rebound game.

There were big statlines in Luxembourg as LaShayla Wright-Ponder had a 32 points game. In another game, Amanda Cahill had 34 points and her teammate Alexus Johnson had a 27 point, 19 rebound, 14 assist triple-double while Shawnta Shaw nearly also recorded one for the opposition, but did grab 21 rebounds. Brooke Walling had a 31 point game while Mikayla Ferenz had 31 points for the opposition. A double round week in Israel started with Ashley Owusu scoring 30 points in a game where Jennie Simms grabbed 24 rebounds for the opposition. In the second set of games, Sasha Goodlett had 34 points and Jennie Simms recorded a 14 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double. A wild weekend in Greece included the big rivalry game and two overtime games as Mya Berkman’s 34 points and 23 rebounds to help her team win one and then Jessica Shepard finished the round with a 13 point, 15 rebound, 10 assist triple-double.

Chase for Promotion

A wild game closed the round in Turkey’s second division as Essence Booker had 41 points to get her team the win after Sule Aktas had 39 points for the opposition. Danielle Adams had a 37 point game and Shelby Cheslek hit the 30 point mark. The top two teams in Spain’s second division met with Leganes extending their lead with a win over Estepona. In Romania’s second division, Sara Fritea had 21 rebounds while 15 year old Ioana Velcea had 35 points. In Portugal’s second division, Carolina Costa had 20 rebounds and Hannah Pratt had a 30 point game. Ieva Trakiene had a 10 point, 14 rebound, 11 assist triple-double in Lithuania’s second division. San Giovanni Valdarno now leads their half of Italy’s second division after the other teams that were tied to them lost. Beatrice Paleari had 33 points and Ludovica Sammartino matched it in an overtime win.