In the Women’s Pool B event at the Carioca Arena, the USA took on the Netherlands in the first game of the day’s afternoon session.
Looking to continue their winning streak, the USA Women’s team carried their strong form into the opening quarter against the Netherlands: playing their way to an 18-9 lead. It was a tense second quarter – the USA just edging it by 13-12 to hold a 10 point advantage at half time: 31-21.
Rallying together, the Netherlands responded in the third quarter – outshooting their opponents by 13-10 as they closed down the USA’s lead to 41-34 with 10 minutes to play. The Dutch team continued to pressure the Americans at both ends of the court throughout the final quarter, but the USA held firm to secure a 60-50 win.
Head Coach Stephanie Wheeler said: “When you look at the Paralympics you want to grow over every game and be playing at your best in that last game – so for our growth as a team, this was exactly what we needed. I think the Dutch are one of the top teams in the world, so we fully expect to see them again in this tournament at some point in time, so it was nice to see them early and – just like they’re going to back and prepare to see us again – we’re going to go back and prepare to see them again too.”
For full match statistics click here https://www.rio2016.com/en/paralympics/wheelchair-basketball-womens-group-b-preliminary-wb-13
