World of Basketball February 24th

Asia

League play resumed in Japan with the top two teams facing off and the Iris getting closer to the Red Wave after a sweep. Also on a Saturday-Sunday schedule, the Sunshine Rabbits swept the Sunflowers. At the bottom of the standings, the Wings and Cougars had a split. The last series was on a Sunday-Monday schedule and the Antelopes earned a split with the Magic. In the second division, series were all played on a Saturday-Sunday schedule with the Vickies taking over the lead from the Koalas after a sweep, getting a 30 point game from Haruki Takahara in the process. The Queen Bees swept the Rabbits to move above them in the standings while the Aranmare steered well clear of last place with their sweep of the Egrets.

The last week of the regular season in South Korea started on Wednesday with BNK’s win over Hana Bank. On Thursday, the Stars secured the final playoff spot with their win over the Blue Minx. Since they had already secured the top seed, Woori Bank took their foot off the gas on Friday and lost to last place Hana Bank. Saturday’s game had no impact on seeding as the S-Birds ended their season with a win over BNK.

There was one series in Kazakhstan’s top division this week on a Wednesday-Thursday schedule and Okzhetpes put some distance between themselves and Turan with sweep. The second division finished their pod of single site games on Friday with Zhetisu dropping a game, but staying firmly in the lead as Karaganda still could not get their first win. Darya Tsukanova had a 42 point game for Astana’s reserve team.

The regular season concluded in China on Tuesday and the playoffs will start next week after the All Star Break. The big question in this season’s format comes at the start when the top teams from the lower group enter the playoffs. While they might not be expected to progress past the first stage, the losers of those first series will face off for the right to play in the upper group next season. The North defeated the South 129-120 in the All Star Game on Sunday.

North West Tasmania

It was another double-round week in the NWBU with teams playing on Tuesday and Friday. The Devonport Warriors picked up another pair of wins to remain undefeated. The Burnie Tigers are a threat behind them though as Megan Mullings poured in 37 points in one of their wins. The Smithton Saints are still looking for their first win as the first round-robin concludes this week.

Mexico

The weekend of games started with Libelulas sweeping Dragonas after wins on Friday and Saturday. The rest of the series were on a Saturday-Sunday schedule, including Penguins still searching for a win after being swept by Avispas. Mieleras is still undefeated after a sweep of Husky’s. Mineras swept Universidad Modelo in the final series.

Around Europe

The Central European league had their final weekend of regular season games and Piestanske Cajky finished the round-robin undefeated, followed by Ostrava, while Graz was winless. In the Baltic, Malia Bambrick had 31 points in a win and Mia Loyd had 30 points. The second division featured 34 points from Gabriele Sulske and 30 points from Kriste Timofejeva to help their team record a big win. Jenna Mastellone had 31 points to help her team win a cup quarterfinal in Portugal that was a battle of second-division teams. Janai Crooms had 21 rebounds in cup play in Malta. Jeanae Terry had 22 rebounds in a loss in Kosovo’s cup as Bashkimi defeated Prishtina to win on Sunday. Sophia Kuranovic had 23 rebounds to help her team advance in Austria’s cup.

Chase for Promotion

Zakyia Weathersby had a 31 point game in Turkey’s second division. Claudia Del Amo had 32 points in Spain’s third division. Lena Vulovic had 32 points in Serbia’s second division. In Lithuania’s second division, Milda Sauliute had 10 steals at the age of 43, but did not look for her own shot to try to secure a triple or even quadruple-double. Agne Antanaviciute grabbed 23 rebounds in her game. Mantova defeated Udine in Italy’s second division to create a four-way tie in their half that they sit at the top of now. Asdis Jonsdottir had 34 points in a loss in Iceland’s second division. Alina Dotsch had a 20 rebound game in Germany’s second division. Toulouse defeated Mondeville in France’s second division to create a tie at the top of the standings.

Notable Individual Performances

A busy week to start the split phase in Switzerland included a 21 rebound game from Nila Blackford, a 30 point game from Aleah Nelson, and a 29 rebound game from Shannon Ryan. In Sweden, Jessica Lindstrom recorded a 19 point, 12 rebound, 10 assist triple-double and Bendu Yeaney had 30 points. The second stage in Israel started on Monday and Savannah Wilkinson grabbed 20 rebounds. The final game went to overtime with Jennie Simms scoring 44 points in the win while Emily Engstler had 36 points in the loss. A double-round week in Greece included a 35 point, 23 rebound game from Jessica Shepard and a 41 point game from Camryn Taylor. A double-round week in Finland included a 32 point game from Carmen Tyson-Thomas and Nicole Ogun had a 20 rebounds game.

Thayna Silva had a 31 point game in Slovenia. Jovana Popovic poured in 32 points in Serbia. Victoria Birna had a 51 point game in Moldova while her teammate Valeria Lisii grabbed 27 rebounds and Ecaterina Tcacenco scored 35 points in the other game. Teammates had triple-doubles in the British league as Danni Williams had 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists and Davida Dale had 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. Elisabeth Hansen had a 34 point game in Denmark. Petra Malikova had 33 points in a win to start the second stage in the Czech league. Nina Rickards had a 33 point effort in Cyprus. Iva Todoric just managed a triple-double in Croatia and Meghan Boyd had a 30 point game. Adna Razic had 21 rebounds in the Bosnian league. Aliyah Kenny grabbed 23 boards in Belgium. Jainaya Jones had 38 points in a loss in Albania.