Turkish League Finals Game 3
Facing elimination on Sunday at home in Mersin, Cukurova made a desperate lineup switch, including bringing Iliana Rupert in to bolster the frontcourt alongside Teaira McCowan. It looked like it was working heading down the stretch, but Fenerbahce got just what they needed at the end of the fourth quarter to take the lead and hold on for a 79-78 win, earning them a sweep and ending their season on a winning note after two disappointments.
https://tbf.org.tr/ligler/kbsl-2024-2025/mac-detay/267609/istatistik
Cukurova [78]: Rupert 22 McCowan 20/11r Carleton 13 Fauthoux 9/13a Howard 4
Fenerbahce [79]: McBride 19 Williams 13/6r/10a Onar 11 Meesseman 10/6a Cakir 9 Sabally 8/9r Uzun 3
Fenerbahce wins series 3-0
World of Basketball
Asia
The playoffs continued in Kazakhstan with the other semifinals series starting with games on Monday and Tuesday. Turan ignored the regular season standings and won both games at Okzhetpes. Astana finished their sweep of Caspiy on Saturday. The second division also started another pod of games on Thursday.
There was another pod of games in Taiwan this weekend with Cathay Life getting the all-important win in the final game over Taiyuan Textile to win this round-robin and get closer to them in the standings in anticipation of their rematch in the finals. Chunghwa Telecom fended off Taipower in the battle of winless teams.
Australia
It was a light week in NBL1 for the holiday weekend as the West conference did play games on Thursday and Teige Morrell had 23 rebounds in a win. Anneli Maley signs off for now after turning in a 37 point, 23 rebound game before heading to the WNBA. The Central played a full round and the Woodville Warriors picked up their first win to only leave the Central Districts Lions winless. Emily Saunders had the standout individual performance with 23 rebounds.
The whole round of games in the NWBU was on Tuesday again and the Burnie Tigers are now decisively in the lead after Mariah Payne matched the 27 points that the Wynyard Wildcats could manage and Macey Crawford did even more with 35 points in their overwhelming win. Ava McDonald had a big game for the Penguin Blues to put them all alone in second place after their win over the Latrobe Demons. The Devonport Warriors got a win over the last place Smithton Saints and the Somerset Heat defeated the Ulverstone Redhoppers.
Americas
The semifinals in Mexico had one deciding game on Tuesday and Libelulas recovered from losing the opener to get past Mineras. That set up the championship series over the weekend that started with Mieleras getting an easy win on Saturday. Libeluas was in better rhythm on Sunday night and looked ready to tie the series with the next two games at home early in the second half, but Mineras dominated the fourth quarter to win at move within a game of the title.
Another week of games in Brazil started with Araraquara’s win over Cerrado on Tuesday. There were two games on Wednesday and Corinthians started with a win over Campinas while Ourinhos had a strong second half to defeat Mesquita. Thursday’s game was a great one between the top teams in recent years with Sampaio getting the win over Araraquara. Santo Andre’s comeback in the second half ended up just being enough for a win over Blumenau on Friday. Sao Jose dos Campos won Saturday’s game against Maringa. Campinas finished the week with a solid win over Blumenau on Sunday.
Around Europe
Bashkimi finished a sweep of Peja to win the championship in Kosovo. The end of the playoffs are near in Romania and Jack Danielle Animam had 30 points to open the bronze medal series while Teja Gorsic sealed the consolation championship for Constanta with a 32 point game. Espoo defeated Tapiolan Honka in a local battle for the bronze medal in Finland. Karolina Sotolova had 30 points to help KP Brno finish a sweep of Chomutov for the bronze medal in the Czech league. Montana won three straight games in the finals to win the championship in Bulgaria after losing the opener to Beroe. Rilski swept the bronze medal series against Lokomotiv Sofia. Duchess Klosterneuberg finished a sweep of UBI Graz to win the championship in Austria.
Chase for Promotion
The playoffs started in Turkey’s second division with neither reserve team getting a win while Dejah Terrell grabbed 20 rebounds in a win. The playoffs and playdowns started in Italy’s second division and included a 31 point game from Susanna Toffali in a home loss. KR is a game away from winning the playoffs portion Iceland’s second division behind Armann after a pair of nifty wins including getting 37 points and 23 rebounds from Cheah Rael-Whitsitt in the opener to offset Abby Beeman’s 31 points.
The playoffs are set in Ukraine’s second division after a final set of games in the split portion of the season. Kateryna Shtyk had the highest scoring game with 38 points, Anastasia Lyubenska had a 32 point game, and Viktoria Shmatova had 30 points in a loss. Leganes grabbed first place and promotion from Spain’s second division with their win over Estepona, which must navigate the playoffs. Brianna Herlihy had 30 points in a loss. Emma Huff had a 30 point game in Portugal’s second division, which approaches its final weekend.
Notable Individual Performances
The playoffs continued in Iceland and Jasmine Dickey’s 41 point outburst ended up not being enough after Paulina Hersler had 32 point, Emilie Hesseldal had 21 rebounds, and Brittany Dinkins recorded a 25 point, 17 rebound, 10 assist triple-double for the opposition. Erin Antosh had 31 points and 21 rebounds in a loss in the British league. The regular season concluded in the Bosnian league and included a 21 rebound game from Jelena Tadic.
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