Turkish League Quarterfinals Game 3
Two series needed deciding games, starting on Sunday with Temi Fagbenle and Besiktas building a lead early to hold off Jessica Thomas and company 68-63. Yvonne Anderson and Cukurova made sure that they would also advance on Monday, eliminating Nesibe Aydin 91-60.
March 30
https://tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl-2024-2025/mac-detay/267575/istatistik
Emlak Konut [63]: Thomas 27 Macaulay 12 Parks 12 Ndour-Fall 8
Besiktas [68]: Fagbenle 20 Krajisnik 19/14r Winterburn 12/10r/6a Lazic 11/6r
Besiktas wins series 2-1
March 31
https://tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl-2024-2025/mac-detay/267584/istatistik
Cukurova [91]: Anderson 24 Johannes 16/6r/7a Bilgic 13 Yalcin 11 Carleton 10/8r/6a Rupert 8/14r McCowan 2
Nesibe Aydin [60]: Wheeler 15/8r/6a Wallace 7
Cukurova wins series 2-1
World of Basketball
Asia
It was semifinals weekend in Japan with all games played at a single site. The Red Wave swept the Sunflowers, getting a 19 point, 14 rebound, 10 assist triple-double from Rui Machida in the first game. The Iris, who finished tied with them in the standings joined them after needing a deciding game on Monday to eliminate the Magic.
The latest pod of games in Kazakhstan’s second division finished with all teams playing last Monday and Tuesday. Zhetisu picked up two more wins to stay in the lead. Astana’s reserve team remains behind them after their own pair of wins, getting a 30 point effort from Kamazhay Otegenova in the process. Karaganda is still looking for their first win heading into the next pod.
The semifinals continued in China with games 2 and 3 on Tuesday and Thursday. Sichuan finished their sweep of Shanxi with a pair of decisive wins. Inner Mongolia evened up their series, but Guangdong took the lead again and then clinched the series at home on Sunday.
The last pod of games in Taiwan finished on Tuesday with Chunghwa Telecom defeating Taipower and Taiyuan Textile defeating Cathay Life. The schedule returned to the normal Friday-Saturday-Sunday to finish out another round-robin. Cathay Life got the edge on Taiyuan Textile this time to finish at the top while Chunghwa Telecom got another win over Taipower to avoid last place.
Australia
Three of the five NBL1 conferences started play this weekend with a busy schedule in the South covering mainly teams in Victoria and Tasmania. Isabelle Bourne had 39 points and Maddison Rocci had 36 points to help their team open with a win. Lou Brown had a 33 point game in her opener.
The East conference featuring teams from New South Wales and the Capital Territory started and included a fun battle that saw Riley Lupfer score 30 points in a win where Carlie McAlister scored 35 points in the loss. The Central conference also started play and Morgan Yaeger had 47 points to close the round in South Australia.
The top division in Victoria’s Big V also started play this weekend. The highest scoring game came from Samantha Labros, who had a 34 point effort. In the lowest division, Emmie Gardner had a 23 rebound game and Kelly Foster turned in a 31 point performance.
The start of NBL1 meant that the NWBU had a single-round week with games on Tuesday to allow players to attend to their other commitments in Tasmania. The Burnie Tigers still lead and their victory pushed the Penguin Blues to the back of the top half of the standings. Behind them, Devonport Warriors are still in the chase after an easy win over the Wynyard Wildcats. The Latrobe Demons matched their results after getting 31 points from Sarah O’Neill to offset 33 points from Nikki Parker for a win over the Ulverstone Redhoppers. 30 points from Rhonda Price did not end up being near enough for the Smithton Saints after Bailie Wickham torched them with 42 points for the Somerset Heat.
Americup
The draw for this year’s tournament was conducted on Wednesday with nine teams joining host Chile. As usual, the teams are divided into two groups with a round-robin determining who advances to the next round and to World Cup qualifying. The winner of the tournament will automatically get a World Cup spot as Brazil won in 2023.
A: Dominican Republic, Argentina, Canada, El Salvador, Brazil
B: Mexico, Colombia, United States, Chile, Puerto Rico
Americas
It was the last week of the regular season in Mexico with teams playing on a Saturday-Sunday schedule except for top seed Mieleras, which got the final bye. Libelulas finished behind them with their sweep of the last place Husky’s after a 30 point game from Paola Beltran. Mineras was next in the standings having swept Penguins. Toritas could only split with Avispas, preventing them from jumping above the visitors in the standings. The last series had direct seeding implications between teams who would play each other again immediately in the playoffs and Universidad Modelo just managed to get the sweep over Dragonas.
A new week of games in Brazil started on Tuesday with Mesquita’s win over Cerrado. Ourinhos won at Blumenau on Wednesday. Araraquara got a decisive win over Corinthians on Thursday. There were two games on Friday as Santo Andre won at Maringa and Sampaio defeated Sao Jose dos Campos. Campinas edged Mesquita on Saturday. Sao Jose dos Campos finished the week with a win over Cerrado on Sunday.
Around Europe
A champion was crowned in the Adriatic and it was the expected matchup in the championship on Sunday with Buducnost getting revenge on Celje after losing to them in three consecutive finals. Bulgarian teams battled for the bronze medal and Montana got the win over Beroe after almost advancing the previous day behind 31 points from Kiana Johnson. Sara Sekularac had a 32 point game in Montenegro’s domestic league. Panevezys defeated Aistes in overtime to win the second division in the Baltic. AEL Limassol won the championship in Cyprus after finishing off Anagennisi Germasogeias.
The playoffs started in Switzerland and included some big games as Julia Chadwick had a 35 point effort and Sam Breen recorded a 20 point, 15 rebound, 10 assist triple-double. Jessica Kelliher had a 35 point game to open the playoffs in Sweden. The playoffs started in Moldova and Irina Nebesnaia had a 38 point, 22 rebound effort. Janai Crooms had a 40 point game to send her team to the finals in Malta. The playoffs started in Luxembourg and Alexus Johnson turned in a 30 point, 29 rebound effort. The teams at the other end of the standings also started their series and they featured a game with neither team giving their bench any playing time and 40 points from Shawnta Shaw in a loss. Stasha Carey had 21 rebounds in an overtime loss in Israel to start the playoffs. Zippy Broughton had 30 points in a playoff loss in Germany. The playoffs started in Finland and Shaiquel McGrude had a 31 point game and Mari Stewart had a 21 rebound game. Julianna Okosun had 25 rebounds in the playoffs in Denmark, but their loss meant that they needed a win in the next game to advance to the finals.
Chase for Promotion
Doniyah Cliney had 38 points in a loss in Turkey’s second division while Essence Booker had 33 points and Sude Turkmen had 21 rebounds. There were a pair of big games in Spain’s third division as Katiana Benitez had 45 points and Aminata Sanogo grabbed 20 rebounds. The season-ending tournament was conducted in Romania’s second division and Alexandria defeated Targu Secuiesc for the championship while Bianca Sirbu had 30 points in a consolation bracket game. Mounia El Habbab had a 32 point game in Italy’s second division. The regular season finished in Iceland’s second division and Cheah Rael-Whitsitt had 21 rebounds. Helene Jakovljevic dished out 16 assists in a game in France’s second division, but Toulouse still won and other results in the double-round week gave them an insurmountable lead for the top spot.
Notable Individual Performances
Becca Wann-Taylor had a 21 rebound game to end the regular season in Portugal. The last day of the regular season in Iceland included a 33 point game from Randi Brown, 43 points from Abby Beeman in a loss, and 31 points from Amandine Toi and 24 rebounds from Maddie Sutton in a loss. In Croatia, Aliyah-Dean Ahmad had 33 points and Nikolina Zubac had 30 points. A wild week in Belgium included 30 points from Cate Reese, 41 points from Valentine Cambioli, and 30 points from Quay Miller. All three games in Albania also featured big statlines as Shernecia Martin had 21 rebounds and her teammate Jainaya Jones had a 19 point, 10 rebound, 13 assist triple-double. Ingrit Dashja recorded an 11 point, 15 rebound, 10 assist triple-double and Crystal Thomas had 30 points.
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