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U.S. Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team Advances to Gold Medal Game with Win over Brazil at Parapan American Games
By Susan Katz
// USOC Media Services
// August 16, 2007
RIO DE JANEIRO — The U.S. Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team has secured a spot in the gold medal game at the 2007 Parapan American Games. In front of a rowdy and raucous crowd at the Rio Multipurpose Arena, the U.S. earned the berth with a 76-30 win on Thursday over host country Brazil. As well, the team has punched its ticket to Beijing, China for the 2008 Paralympic Games since it is now guaranteed to finish in the top four.
“Getting this win playing in front of Brazil’s home crowd is awesome,” said Jennifer Ruddell (Champaign, Ill.). “Most of us have never played in front of this many people before and it took a tremendous effort on our part with the crowd cheering for Brazil the whole time. There were a lot of time that we couldn’t hear each other with all the noise out there and I think we did a really good job of stepping it up today communicating and listening to one another.”
Ruddell once again had a monster offensive game for the U.S., dropping 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting. She also snagged eight rebounds and handed out six assists. Loraine Gonzales (Fort Worth, Texas) and Carlee Hoffman (Champaign, Ill.) also came up big for the U.S. Gonzales had 18 points and eight rebounds while Hoffman added 12 points and five assists.
U.S. head coach Ron Lykins (Stillwater, Minn.) wanted his team to accomplish two things here at the Parapan Ams—qualify for the 2008 Paralympics and win a gold medal. While one of those goals has been met, Lykins says there’s still plenty of work left to do.
“It’s great that we’ve qualified for Beijing and that pressure is off,” said Lykins. “But, we came here to win a gold medal. I’m pleased with how our team has progressed throughout this tournament, but we’ll most likely see Canada again in the championship game and we still have plenty of improvements that need to be made.”
There is still one game remaining in preliminary round play before Saturday’s gold medal match. The U.S. will face Mexico at 8:00 AM (local) on Friday, August 17.
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