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U.S. Women's Wheelchair Basketball Team Captures Osaka Cup Title
By Heather Gardner
// National Wheelchair Basketball Association
// February 19, 2008
The U.S. Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team took first place at the 2008 Women’s Friendship Games/Osaka Cup, despite playing shorthanded throughout the tournament because illness prevented Carlee Hoffman from making the trip, and starters Patty Cisneros and Jennifer Ruddell were also unavailable.
Day one began with Team USA taking on the hosts from Japan. Despite a seven-point halftime deficit, things began warming up for Team USA in the third quarter and they came back to win, 53-48. Lead scorers for the U.S. were Loraine Gonzales (18 pts), Becca Murray (12 pts), and Sarah Castle (8 pts). The second game of the day ended with Canada being outscored by Australia, 45-40.
On day two, the U.S. played two games and finished with a 1-1 record. In the morning contest, the team conquered Team Canada, 47-36, but fell to Australia in the afternoon, 58-24. The top U.S. scorers against Canada were Gonzales (16 pts), Castle (10 pts) and Stephanie Wheeler (9 pts). Against Australia, Gonzales (10 pts) and Castle (8 pts) were lead scorers.
Australia entered day three’s championship game as the favorite against the U.S., and jumped out to an 11-2 lead after the first quarter, but the U.S. would take over from there. After closing the gap to four at halftime, Team USA took the lead after three quarters (33-29) and used a strong fourth quarter to pull away, upsetting Australia with a 52-40 victory. Japan took on Canada on the last day of the tournament, pulling off third place and leaving Canada with fourth.
Team USA was well represented at the awards ceremony with three All-Tournament Team members, Gonzales, Murray and Wheeler, who was also named Tournament MVP.
Box scores from all four U.S. games can be found by clicking here.
The next event for the U.S. women’s team will be the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials, April 10-13 at Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Ala.
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