World of Basketball March 17th

Asia

The semifinals in Japan have not started yet, but this weekend featured a series to determine who would play in the upper division next season as the Wings, who finished seventh, faced the Koalas, who were second in the lower division. Saturday’s game was an easy win for the Wings, but they had to hold on for the sweep on Sunday, getting a 18 point, 10 rebound, 11 assist triple-double from Ramu Tokashiki.

One semifinal series in South Korea had to have a deciding game on Tuesday and BNK avoided the upset with their win over the Blue Minx. The finals started on Sunday and they carried the momentum in a late comeback win over top seed Woori Bank.

There were three series to conclude the regular season in Kazakhstan as Turan swept Ertis with wins on Monday and Tuesday. Astana flexed their muscle with a sweep over Turan. The last series was also on a Friday-Saturday schedule as Daria Surkova had 34 and 30 point games for Okzhetpes, but Caspiy did manage to salvage a split.

All of the quarterfinals concluded by Sunday in China as no teams were able to force deciding games after Shanxi eliminated Shanghai in overtime. There were also road wins for Guangdong and Inner Mongolia over Shandong and Xinjiang respectively. Sichuan had finished their sweep of Jiangsu on Thursday. The series to determine who would start in the upper group next season all concluded. There were two sweeps after Wednesday’s games with Beijing defending their spot against Heilongjiang. Shaanxi was the first team from the lower group to take one of spots after finishing off Zhejiang. Two deciding games were needed on Friday and Hebei won a wild game over Henan at home while a magical season in Hubei finished with their win over Fujian.

There was another pod of games this weekend in Taiwan and Taiyuan Textile finished another sweep to stay in the lead in the standings. Cathay Life remains behind them while Chunghwa Telecom kept Taipower from winning their first game.

North West Tasmania

There was another double-round week in the NWBU with teams playing Tuesday and Friday. The Devonport Warriors lost to Latrobe, allowing the Burnie Tigers to move to the top of a tie for first place with their win over the Demons. The Smithton Saints got their first win against the Wynyard Wildcats, but could not flip the tiebreaker there. Taya Webb had a 26 rebound game.

Americas

There was a full set of Saturday-Sunday series in Mexico with Mieleras staying undefeated after their sweep of the last place Penguins. Libelulas remains behind them after sweeping the Universidad Modelo, which fell behind Mineras after their sweep of Toritas. Dragonas made it a weekend of sweeps after their two wins over Husky’s.

A game started on Tuesday in Brazil, but had to be finished on Wednesday when Ourinhos finally completed their win at Santo Andre. Thursday’s game was played without interruption and Corinthians won at Blumenau. Sao Jose dos Campos won Friday’s game at Mesquita. Gabi Guimaraes had 31 points in an easy win for Sampaio over Santa Andre on Saturday. Araraquara held on to a win over Ourinhos on Sunday. Monday’s game was a Sampaio win at Campinas.

Around Europe

The European league came down to one final game instead of a full final tournament this year and Nyon edged hosts Ostrava to lift the trophy. Other cross-national competitions wrapped up regular seasons in the Adriatic and in the unified Albania-Kosovo league. In Kosovo’s domestic league, Arbnore Percuku had a 20 point, 12 rebound, 10 assist triple-double. Aniylah Bryant had a 42 point game in Albania. Croatia’s domestic league included a 31 point game from Meghan Boyd and a battle with 31 points from Asiah Dingle in the win while Nikolina Zubac had 32 points in the loss. The Bosnian league featured a 34 point game from Tanyia Gordon and a 31 point game from Natasa Sobot. Grengewald Hueschtert defeated Sparta Bertrange to win the cup in Luxembourg. Emily Engstler had a 21 rebound game in Israel’s cup.

Chase for Promotion

Ukraine’s second division played games with the teams in the top and bottom halves split into groups and Olena Khoroshykh had a 31 point game. One matchup went to overtime and Anatasia Shepeliuk’s 38 points were not enough as Viktoria Shmatova had 36 points in the win. Kurstyn Harden was the leading scorer in Turkey’s second division with 32 points while Dilara Gocmen was the leading domestic scorer with 30 points and Dejah Terrell had 22 rebounds. Kristina Innemee had a 31 point game in Portugal’s second division. Elisabet Olafsdottir had a 30 point game in Iceland’s second division in the last full round of games. Toulouse now has a two game lead for the top spot in France’s second division after a win over Voiron and another loss for Mondeville.

There were a number of big games in Lithuania’s second division as Daniele Paunksnyte had the highest scoring game with 30 points and Milda Sauliute dished out 16 assists in a game. Agne Birontaite had a 21 rebound effort in a game where Karolina Draksaite had a 19 point, 10 rebound, 11 assist triple-double for the opposition. Agne Antaviciute starred with a 18 point, 13 rebound, 11 assist triple-double followed by a 23 rebound effort in an overtime loss.

Notable Individual Performances

In Switzerland, Ana Rodrigues had 42 points and Julia Chadwick had 35 points. Stephanie Visscher had a 20 rebound game in Sweden. Ines Ramos had a 31 point game in Portugal. In Moldova, Irina Nebesnaia had 22 rebounds in an overtime win that saw Ecaterina Tcacenco score 35 points in the loss and Nicoleta Balaban had 33 of her team’s 44 points in a loss. Janai Crooms had a 34 point game in Malta. A busy round in Iceland included a 15 assist game from Ilze Jakobsone, a 30 point game from Lore Devos, and a 42 point outburst from Brittany Dinkins. The postseason began in Greece and Mya Berkman’s 33 point game was not enough for her team to pull off a second straight upset while Panserraikos has already secured safety at the bottom of the standings. Alexandra Wilke had a 32 point game for top seed Keltern to close the regular season in Germany. Julianna Okosun had a 22 rebound game in Denmark.