World of Basketball June 9th

Americas

The season resumed in Brazil on Tuesday after the cup break and Santo Andre just edged Blumenau. Three games were played on Wednesday, starting with Sao Jose dos Campos winning at Araraquara. Mesquita managed to grind out a win over Ourinhos and Campinas shook off a slow start to defeat Maringa. Thursday’s game was an excellent one as Corinthians used a big rally to force overtime, but Sampaio escaped with the win. Santo Andre defeated Maringa in Friday’s game. There were three games on Saturday, starting with a Campinas win over Araraquara. Sampaio won at Sao Jose dos Campos and then the late game was a crushing win for Corinthians over Blumenau. Cerrado defeated Ourinhos on Sunday and Corinthians had a dominant win at Santo Andre on Monday to approach the end of the regular season.

The regular season concluded in Mexico with all series on a Friday-Saturday schedule. The imbalance in this schedule could have had seeding implications, but definitely not for the top and bottom teams playing each other again as Chihuahua won both games against Leon. Third place Monterrey picked up a pair of big wins over second place Aguascalientes. Cancun’s sweep of Veracruz secured the fourth spot after Irapuato was swept by Tamaulipas.

Australia

A holiday weekend being observed in some states meant that not all of the conference in NBL1 played rounds this week. In the South conference, that meant just a handful of games to start and end the long weekend. Isabelle Bourne had 30 points in a win for the Keilor Thunder, cancelling out Isobel Borlase’s 30 point game for the Melbourne Tigers. There was no break in the North conference and Miela Sowah closed the weekend with a 37 point game for the Brisbane Capitals.

The West conference also had a full round of games, including a thriller that saw Alex Fowler score 33 points in a loss for the Perry Lakes Hawks after Ally Wilson scored 30 points in her return to the Mandurah Magic after her WNBA adventure. Karly Murphy had another 23 rebounds for the Eastern Suns, but the Cockburn Cougars remained undefeated. Anneli Maley also had a 23 rebound game for the Perth Redbacks and another wild game saw Stacey Barr score 34 points and Chloe Forster score 30 points in a Warwick Senators win.

The other team to advance to the championship game was determined on Tuesday in North West Tasmania. The Burnie Tigers started well, but the Penguins Blues controlled the middle part of the game with Ellie Collins pouring in 30 points. The top seed recovered in the final quarter though and extended their lead back to advance and try to avenge their earlier loss. That championship game was played on Friday and the Devonport Warriors got to play on their home court, but they could not get it done and lost to Burnie.