World of Basketball June 2nd

Americas

Two games on Tuesday started the week in Brazil. Sampaio crushed Santo Andre and Campinas pulled away in the second half for a win over Blumenau. Corinthians edged Sao Jose dos Campos in one of Wednesday’s games and Araraquara had a strong first half in a win over Cerrado. Mesquita rolled past Maringa on Thursday.

The league took a break over the weekend for a cup competition that started with the semifinals on Saturday. The first game took two overtimes to decide before Araraquara could get past Corinthians. There was not much offense in the other game, a Sampaio win over Campinas. The bronze medal game was played first on Sunday and Corinthians got the better of Campinas. The two teams that have been the best in the league in recent years met in the championship game and it was quite a battle, but Araraquara prevailed over Sampaio.

All teams in Mexico played series on a Tuesday-Wednesday schedule. Cancun won their opener, but Tamaulipas salvaged a split the next day. All the other series were sweeps, including Aguascalientes winning at last place Leon. They are still chasing undefeated Chihuahua, which got both wins at Veracruz. A battle in the middle of the standings had Monterrey climb above Irapuato after a pair of wins.

The second series of the week started with a Saturday-Sunday matchup that saw Leon continue to struggling, losing both games to Monterrey. Everything else was on a Sunday-Monday schedule as Chihuahua suffered their first loss of the season, but bounced back for the split against Irapuato. Tamaulipas climbed past Veracruz in the standings with an easy sweep. Aguascalientes remains in second place after their sweep of Cancun.

Australia

All of the conferences in NBL1 had full rounds, including the South, starting with the Tasmania rivalry game that saw the Launceston Tornadoes defeat the Hobart Chargers. Bec Cole had a 31 point game for the Waverley Falcons and Nyadiew Puoch closed out the weekend with a 38 point effort for the Dandenong Rangers.

The North conference had some tremendous performances as Miela Sowah had 49 points in a Brisbane Capitals loss to the only remaining undefeated team, the Southern Districts Spartans. There were other big scoring games in losses as Kahlaijah Dean had 34 points in an Ipswich Force loss. Unique Thompson had 30 points in the first Mackay Meteorettes loss after the Cairns Dolphins got a pair of triple-doubles. Mia Loyd had 36 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists and Cayla George had 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists.

The West conference featured a 33 point game from Alaska Rhebok and a 27 rebound effort from her teammate Anneli Maley for the Perth Redbacks. Marena Whittle had a 30 point game for the Rockingham Flames. Sarah Mortensen had a 34 point game to keep the Cockburn Cougars undefeated, but Zitina Aokuso did have a 14 point, 19 rebound, 10 assist game for the Willetton Tigers. Chloe Forster had a 31 points for the Warwick Senators in a win over the Goldsfields Giants, which got a 30 point game from Nici Gilday. Karly Murphy ended the weekend with 30 points and 21 rebounds in an overtime loss for the Eastern Suns.

The Newcastle Falcons handed the North Bears their first loss in the East conference as both teams battle for the lead. Jessie-May Hall had a 31 point game for the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Spiders and JuJu Redmond had a 33 point game for the Bankstown Bruins. On the rebounding front, Mia Heide and Carlie McAllister each had 20 rebound efforts. Kristina Moore had 34 points in an overtime win for the Inner West Bulls and Piper Anderson had a 31 point game for the Sydney Comets.

Asia Avinger had a busy weekend in Big V’s middle division so soon after finishing her college career, delivering 35 and 32 point efforts for the Mildura Heat.

The playoffs started in North West Tasmania at Devonport and the elimination game was up first on Tuesday. The Latrobe Demons had the lead early, but Ellie Collins had 35 points for the Penguin Blues, helping them control the second half to advance. Their next opponent is the Burnie Tigers, which lost to the host Warriors on Wednesday after a poor fourth quarter in the game to determine which team advanced directly to the championship.

Europe

The Grasshoppers won the championship in the Netherlands on Wednesday by defeating the Lions after breaking the tie last Sunday. The other promotion spot in Italy’s second game came down to a deciding game on Wednesday that had no shortage of drama. Treviso had the lead at home in the first half, but Broni forced overtime and Meriem Nasraoui had 32 points to help them secure the win. They got to play the winners of the other side on Sunday to crown a division champion and Roseto looked set to win, but Broni fought back again to prevail.