World of Basketball January 27th

Asia

The teams played Saturday-Sunday series in Japan before another break. The Red Wave stayed in the lead with their sweep of the Sunshine Rabbits and the Iris kept pace with their sweep of the Antelopes, although the first game was tough with Maki Takada providing 32 points in an overtime win. The Sunflowers could only manage a split against the last place Cougars, allowing the Magic to pull ahead of them with a sweep of the Wings. The Koalas swept the last place Egrets to stay in the lead in the second division and the Vickies kept pace with a sweep over the Rabbits. The Queen Bees were able to move up in the standings with a sweep of the Aranmare.

Another week of games in South Korea started with a narrow Woori Bank win over the Stars on Wednesday. The Blue Minx rolled past the S-Birds on Thursday. Woori Bank climbed above BNK in the standings by defeating them on Friday. The Blue Minx stayed lurking behind them after their win over the Stars on Saturday. BNK just edged the S-Birds on Sunday to stay tied for first place. Woori Bank took care of business on Monday by defeating last place Hana Bank.

The double round-robin finished in Saudi Arabia and Al Nassr finished undefeated even though Sara Dickey had 31 points for Al Qadisiyah. Tynice Martin had 32 points for Al Ahli to help them place next after a win over Al Ittihad, which got 30 points from Houda Hamrouni. Al Okhdood finished winless after their loss to Al Ula.

The New Year’s break was reached in China and there have been storylines in both the upper and lower groups with so many more foreign players allowed this season. Sichuan is not even at full strength, but has been rolling through the top teams except for one loss to second place Shanxi. Xinjiang, Hebei, and Fujian have all struggled against the top teams, which could mean trouble when their expected playoff losses will leave them having to fight to stay in the top group next season. The lower group is running through the Hubei province as the fan favorite duo of Chennedy Carter and Peyton Williams has been getting the job done on the way to the playoffs.

Mexico

The higher level league will be the big story later in the year, but the longer-running national competition started play this week with three series in the traditional Saturday-Sunday format. After rapid expansion last year, there are nine teams this season with both established teams and newcomers involved. Mieleras swept their games against the Libelulas and Toritas swept Husky’s. Two of the new teams also met with Dragonas picking up a pair of wins over Penguins.

Around Europe

The leading scorer in the Adriatic this week was in the second division as Dragana Zubac had 30 points in one of her outings. Milena Vujovic had a 34 point effort in Montenegro and the week’s other game had Teodora Brkovic matching the opposition with 27 points. In Croatia, Meghan Boyd had 32 points and Tamia Lawhorne had 33 points. Natasa Sobot had 36 points in the Bosnian league. The double round robin finished in Slovakia with Ruzomberok staying perfect after their second win over Piestanske Cajky. Ema Rodakova and Dominika Kollarova had 32 point games.

Fribourg defeated Troistorrents to win one of the cups in Switzerland. The British cup was also awarded with Caledonia Gladiators just fending off Oaklands Wolves. One game was played in the cup in Portugal this week with Vania Sengo scoring 31 points to secure a win for Barcelos and offset Jenna Mastellone’s 31 points in the loss. Mya Burns had 37 points and 21 rebounds to help the second division team bounce back when they returned to league play.

Chase for Promotion

League play resumed in Turkey’s second division and Edremit got 30 points and 23 rebounds from Channon Fluker to extend their lead. Kurstyn Harden was the leading scorer with 33 points followed by Asia Strong with 32 points and Mariah Perez had 20 rebounds. Aminata Sangare had a 21 rebound game for Spanish second division leaders Leganes. Lina Mikeleviciene had a 31 point game in LIthuania’s second division. Marina Bertane had a 30 point game in Latvia’s second division. Veronica Perini had a 13 point, 11 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in Italy’s second division. Toulouse defeated Montbrison and Mondeville lost so there are no longer teams tied with them for first place while Le Havre had the dubious distinction of losing to the youngsters in the federal training program. Helen Jakovljevic recorded a 20 point, 10 rebound, 11 assist triple-double.

Notable Individual Performances

Biljana Pesovic had a season high 20 rebounds in Romania as she plays her age 41 season. Janai Crooms had 35 points in Malta. Brittany Dinkins had a 48 point, 11 rebound, 11 assist triple-double in Iceland and Randi Brown had 32 points. Caroline Wich had a 30 point game in Denmark. Styliani Velinova had 22 rebounds in Cyprus. Aniylah Bryant had a 36 point, 13 rebound, 10 assist triple-double in Albania.

The second stage started in Luxembourg and Shawnta Shaw had a 30 point game while her teammate Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu grabbed 20 rebounds. A showdown of the two powerhouses had Alexus Johnson deliver a 28 point, 16 rebound, 10 assist triple-double to secure a win after Lauren Van Kleunen had 32 points in the loss. A midweek game in Greece had Jillian Archer grabbing 22 rebounds in a loss because Anisha George had 30 points. They got an overtime win too over the weekend, withstanding 30 points from Camryn Taylor and 21 rebounds from Graceann Bennett. Evgenia Kollatou recorded a 13 point, 10 rebound, 12 assist triple-double and Andrijana Cvitkovic scored 30 points.