Wednesday, October 25, 2023.- When the schedule for female's basketball at Santiago 2023 was released last September, the unified message from the Chilean team was that they always knew they had to give their maximum effort to have a shot at a medal.
The local team was placed in Group A alongside Cuba, Argentina, and Puerto Rico, the latter being the bronze medalist in Lima 2019 and their opponent in the debut at the Polideportivo del Estadio Nacional.
On the court, they confirmed this commitment and from the start, they began working on the match against the Caribbean team. After finishing the first quarter 22-20 ahead, they extended the lead in the next to go into halftime with a 50-38 advantage.
Upon returning, Chile continued to widen the gap with an impressive run, ending 74-47. Only towards the end did they ease off the accelerator a bit, allowing Puerto Rico to slightly close the gap, although far from preventing the resounding victory of 86-60.
The standout players for the winners were Fernanda Ovalle, Bárbara Cousiño, and Tatiana Gómez, all with 13 points. Among the Caribbean players, the top scorer was Jacqueline Benítez with 17.
In the other match in this group, Cuba defeated Argentina 86-74. The Cuban team dominated from the beginning, and only in the third quarter did they have to face the South Americans' attempt at a comeback.
The top scorer for the victors was María Montero with 17 points, while in Argentina, Camila Suárez was the leading scorer with 23.
Regarding the Thursday clash against Chile (8:00 p.m. local time), the Argentinian player María Jourdheuil stated, "We will focus on reviewing what didn't go well against Cuba and observing how Chile plays to try to do our best."
In the opening game of Group B, the reigning Pan American champion, Brazil, justified their status as favorites by defeating the opposition 72-54, led by Maria Lopes and Vanessa Fausto, who both contributed 12 points.
Later, Colombia had a higher shooting accuracy to defeat Venezuela 73-57. The pivot Yuliany Paz was the standout player of the game, scoring 27 points.
On Thursday, the action at the Polideportivo includes matches between Venezuela-Brazil (10:30 a.m.), Mexico-Colombia (1:00 p.m.), Puerto Rico-Cuba (5:30 p.m.), and the aforementioned Argentina-Chile (8:00 p.m.)
Written by Felipe Hurtado H; translated by Rocio Rojas / Santiago 2023 via Photosport
Photo: Nicolas Klein / Santiago 2023 via Photosport
