Friday, June 27, 2014
Yesterday in Toronto, Canada at the 2014 Women’s World Wheelchair Basketball Championship, four teams qualified for the semi-final rounds. The teams still in the running to win the competition are Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States.
Germany qualified after defeating France 70–25. Mareike Adermann from Germany was named the player of the match. The Netherlands earned their spot after beating China 62–52. Dutch player Inge Huitzing was named the player of the match.
Canada was the third team to reserve their spot in the semi-finals after beating Australia women’s national wheelchair basketball team 63–47. Cindy Ouellet of Canada was named the player of the match. Only four players scored for Canada: Ouellet led with 20 points, Janet McLachlan and Katie Harnock both scored 17, and Tracey Ferguson scored 9 points. Sarah Strewart led the Australian team in scoring with 12 points. Neither team made a three-point shot. Australia gave Canada ten attempts to make free throws, with Canada capitalizing on this to score 7 points. In contrast, Canada only gave the Australians one trip to the free throw line, with Amber Merritt scoring on the team’s only attempt.
The United States booked the last spot in the semi-finals after defeating Great Britain 53–41. The United States’ Gail Gaeng was named the player of the match. The team took an early 6–0 lead. While Helen Freeman and Louise Sugden were able to score for Great Britain, the first quarter ended 13–8 in favor of the US. Great Britain was able to get within three points early in the second quarter, but were never able to get closer to Team USA, despite managing again to pull within three points during the third period. The United States pulled ahead early in the fourth period by 12 points. Rebecca Murray and Gail Gaeng led the USA team in scoring with 15 points each.
In other matches played yesterday, Brazil won the eleventh place match after defeating Peru 88–8. Japan finished in ninth place after beating Mexico 68–40.
In semifinal play, Canada is scheduled to play the Netherlands today, and the United States is to take on Germany. France plays Great Britain, and China is to compete against Australia in consolidation match play.