Gliders to play for Bronze at Worlds
While Germany advance to the Gold medal game, on Saturday the Gliders will battle for the third place on the podium against the loser of the second semi final between the USA and Canada.
Gliders coach John Triscari blamed the loss on the Australians’ poor shooting and third-quarter lapse, but said they would be able to get the job done in the Bronze medal game on Saturday.
“They put up a pretty good fight, they just had one bad quarter where we let them get away,” Triscari said.
“I think really it was mental toughness that was the difference… we need to play a full 40 minutes, that’s something we need to address. We shot 64 to their 44 shot attempts so our defence was awesome but we couldn’t get the ball in the hole, at this level shooting at 31 percent from the field just not acceptable.”
Having already beaten Canada in this tournament, the Australians would be more confident of winning the Bronze if they were to face the Canadians on Saturday.
“Hopefully we’ll be playing Canada for the Bronze,” Triscari said.
“I’ve already said to the girls they should be really proud of their efforts today but we will regroup and focus on the job on Saturday. We have tomorrow off so we’ll do some team bonding and then we’ll be aiming to pick up the Bronze medal on Saturday.”
It was a positive start for the Australians as they opened the scoring and worked hard to establish a 9-6 lead three minutes into the game. But the Germans recovered to go on a 13-0 run as the Gliders struggled to drain their shots.
Clare Burzynski was left unguarded under the basket and nailed the basket to end the Australians’ six-minute scoring drought, but by that stage Germany was already out to a 10-point lead, and went into the first break ahead 21-13.
A 3-point play by Liesl Tesch was a great start to the second quarter for the Australians to get back within five points, and Kylie Gauci was running the floor brilliantly, finding her teammates for open shots as well as picking the moments to put up her own, finishing the half with 11 points and three assists.
Unable to shake the Aussies, Germany called a timeout midway through the second term, but Glider Shelley Chaplin iced two free throws to get within three points, and a Gauci transition layup reduced the margin to just one point, 27-26.
A Marina Mohnen basket steadied the Germans for a 29-26 lead and while both teams had their chances to put more points on the board, the Australians’ were not connecting on their shots and neither team added to their tally before halftime.
The Australians did not get the start they wanted in the second half as their shots continued to hit iron while the Germans were easily finding their way to the basket and had streaked away to a 13-point lead four minutes into the third quarter.
The Gliders could do little to halt the Germans’ offensive onslaught in the third and were facing a 17-point deficit at the final break, 49-32.
The Aussies threw everything at the Germans in the fourth term, upping their defensive intensity to force Germany into a 24-second shot clock violation and making a 6-1 start to the quarter. The Gliders got back within 10 points with 3:28 on the clock, but with the Germans going to the line with each foul they sealed the win from the charity stripe.
Gauci led the Australians in scoring with 12 points to go with five assists, two steals and two rebounds. Cobi Crispin added 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Germany’s Mohnen finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds, supported by Gesche Schunemann with 15 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
The Gliders take the court in the Bronze medal playoff at 6.30pm AEST Saturday July 17. You can follow the finals with a live streaming video and LIVESTATS on the Tournament Website.
The Australian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team, the Rollers, are currently on court vying for a spot in the Men’s Gold Medal game.
Quarter by quarter:
1: GER 21 AUS 13
H: GER 29 AUS 26 (8-13)
3: GER 49 AUS 32 (20-6)
F: GER 66 AUS 47 (17-15)
GERMANY 66 (M Mohnen 26, A Zeyen 15, G Schunemann 15) def
AUSTRALIA 47 (K Gauci 12, C Crispin 10, S Chaplin 6, S Stewart 6, K Hill 6)
At National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England
2010 IWBF World Championship Finals Schedule
Friday July 16: Classification Finals (5th-12th Playoffs)
Saturday July 17: 09:30 Women’s Bronze Medal Game Australia v Loser USA/Canada (6.30pm AEST)
11:45 Men’s Bronze Medal Game (8.45pm AEST)
14:00 Women’s Gold Medal Game (11.00pm AEST)
16:15 Men’s Gold Medal Game (1.15am Sunday July 18 AEST)
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