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Canada, Great Britain and Australia ended the women’s wheelchair basketball competition at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games on a winning note after claiming their respective placing games.
Although the podium spots were out of reach, all teams were striving to finish the Games on a high which resulted in some keenly contested matches across the 5-10 placing matches.
Canada’s Rosalie Lalonde scored a team-high 20 points as Canada defeated host Japan, 68-49 in the 5-6 placing game. The win meant that the Canadian’s matched their final ranking of Rio 2016.
Canada out-scored Japan in three of four quarters and finished shooting 55 per cent from the field while holding the Japanese to just 31 per cent shooting.
In the playoff for 7-8 place, Great Britain beat Spain, 43-62, to finish 7th.
Great Britain who had struggled to find their shooting touch throughout the competition so far came out on fire in the first quarter and took control of the game, 8-22. Spain rallied in the second quarter taking it by 2 to draw it back to within 12 points at halftime, 21-33. The third quarter belonged to GB and despite Spain winning the final quarter 14-9, GB had done enough to secure the victory.
The classification game for 9th place was between Algeria and Australia.
Both teams began the game looking for their first win in Tokyo and for a happy ending to their Paralympic experience. Australia went into the game with plenty of enthusiasm and played their entire squad to earn a welcome victory. Australia was able to get a clear 71-32 win over Algeria and will travel home as 9th placed team. Algeria came home 10th, but their final game was also their highest-scoring game.
In her 201st game for the Gliders, Amber Merritt demonstrated that she still got it - 27 points and an efficiency rating of 28.
For a full wheelchair basketball schedule and results click here.
Photo: Shingo Ito X-1
