SANTIAGO, Chile — If there was any chance of Brazil mounting a comeback after halftime, Team USA Women’s Wheelchair Basketball ended those hopes. For the first six minutes of the quarter, Brazil was held scoreless, and in the entire quarter the U.S. only allowed two points, holding their opponents to just seven percent from the field. 

Brazil showed signs of competency against the U.S. to give them their first test in the tournament, but after the first quarter, Team USA ran away with the lead and never looked back. On Thanksgiving Day, Team USA doubled Brazil’s score 60-30 to advance to the finals against Canada. 

“In the third quarter we did a much better job of just being a cohesive unit,” Lindsey Zurbrugg said. “A couple simple halftime adjustments of just not giving up baseline and basic fundamentals that we were just not implementing to the greatest of our abilities, and once we started doing that and trusting and having each other’s backs, it was all the greatest basketball we could do.” 

After the first timeout of the game, the U.S. realized they wouldn’t be able to walk by Brazil like they have with other teams in the tournament. It was 7-6, and Brazil showed flashes of a solid basketball program. They made cuts and got to the basket despite a tough defense from the U.S. players.

At one point, it was 13-12 after Kloker Cleonete threw a lob pass to Paola Kloker over the U.S. defense. Zurbrugg and Rose Hollerman were there to contest Kloker’s from right under the basket, but they fouled her and she still converted. Fortunately, she short-armed her free throw and that was the closest Brazil would get to tying Team USA for the rest of the game.

Still, with just under a minute in the quarter, Vileide Almeida snuck ahead of the pack after a U.S. basket and netted a layup, and the quarter ended with Brazil still in range 21-14. 

In the second quarter, Brazil scored off a set play after Ixhelt Gonzales lost Maxcileide Ramos on a cut to reduce it to five points at 21-16, but because of multiple points from Gonalez, Team USA went on a 11-5 run and led by double digits at halftime.

To close any doubt the spectators had about Team USA’s lead opening the second half, Ryan Courtney converted an easy layup. Zurburgg caught the ball from the inbounder and had a wide open 3-pointer. She paused to draw attention from the Brazil defenders, and while they did she zipped a pass over their heads to Ryan who camped right under the basket for an easy layup.

In the second half, Team USA outscored Brazil 28-11 because of a strong third quarter. Rebecca Murray, Rose Hollerman, and Gonzales also all scored in double digits in the win. Tomorrow, Team USA will play a familiar opponent in Canada for a gold medal at 19:00 CLT. The Canadians handily beat Argentina by forty points in their semi finals matchup Thursday. 

“We know Canada is a solid, physical team,” Zurbrugg said. “We see them every single year and we know what they have, we know what their strengths are and we know what their weaknesses are. We’re going to use that knowledge and all the scouting we’ve done to the best of our abilities and go get ‘em.”

Main photo courtesy of Karin Pozo | Santiago 2023