England’s Women took silver at the Commonwealth Games after falling to a 99-55 defeat against Australia in Saturday’s final, in Gold Coast.
Chema Buceta’s side were guaranteed a medal after beating Canada in the semi-finals on Friday, and their silver eclipses the bronze achieved in 2006.
Azania Stewart top scored with 13 points for England in the Gold Medal Game, while Melita Emanuel-Carr, Rachael Vanderwal and Chantelle Pressley all added seven points apiece.
England took an early 7-8 lead through Stewart, but the Opals hit back with a 12-0 response as they went 8-10 inside the arc in the opening period with a three before the buzzer making it 26-10.
London-born Liz Cambage – who had started 5 of 5 for 10 points – was ejected for two technicals early in the second and England rallied with a three from Chantelle Pressley cutting the gap to 12.
However, Australia re-gathered their control with an 8-0 run with Mollie Campbell’s three at the buzzer meaning England headed into half-time with a 49-31 deficit.
.@mollie_e13 beats the halftime buzzer with the triple! ⏰🏀 #GC2018 #GC2018Basketball pic.twitter.com/g5h36GFGXC
— Hoopsfix Women (@HoopsfixWomen) April 14, 2018
Australia continued to dominate in the third with a 29-point quarter as they extended their advantage to 31 at 78-47 ahead of the final period.
England kept battling, but Australia powered their way to gold with a 14-0 start to the fourth as they repeated their 2006 success.
Image credit: Basketball England
We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.
We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.
We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.
If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.
We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.
0 comments