BUENOS AIRES (Argentina) – The FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship moved to the Quarter-Finals, where Brazil, Canada, Argentina and USA advanced to the next stage of the tournament held at Estadio Obras Sanitarias. The four teams also punched their ticket to the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2023.

USA 77 – 41 Mexico

After a perfect record in group play, USA continued their path of their 10th straight FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship title as they jumped out to another strong start against a strong Mexico team, playing their elite defense to hold Mexico to just eight points in the quarter – and 16 total in the first half, while scoring 29 points in the first quarter and 47 by the half.

Though USA always presents a team effort on the court in order to find their success, it was Cotie McMahon using her momentum from group play to score a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds in the win, shooting 61 percent from the floor while Isuneh Brady notched one of her own with 10 points and 11 rebounds as USA secured the defensive boards.

As the teams were evenly matched when it came to capitalizing on turnovers, the true difference in the game was USA’s ability to score in transition, pacing the game much quicker than Mexico could keep up with while being able to hustle back on defense despite their best attempts.

Allowing an extra 16 points on foul shots did not help Mexico in their pursuit of trying to stop USA, but 12 points each from both tournament standout Anisa Jeffreis and Jennifer Moreno attempted to try and keep Mexico in the game.

Brazil 73 – 53 Puerto Rico

Another team on a mission to get to the Finals, Brazil had a similar start to USA holding their opponent with stifling defense while finding the basket with ease, but Puerto Rico refused to go down without a fight and found their momentum outscoring Brazil 15-12 in the second quarter.

While both teams went back and forth for the third quarter, enough to exhaust Brazil and allowed Puerto Rico to overpower them in the fourth quarter, the 20-point deficit they sustained in the first quarter that would ultimately decide the game despite Puerto Rico’s efficiency scoring off turnovers and the rotation off the bench putting up numbers.

Lacking efficiency on the boards of either side of the ball was Puerto Rico’s weak spot despite forcing multiple errors defensively for Brazil, also causing them to shoot just 18 percent from the three-point line thanks to stellar defensive play.

Brazil’s two-way ball sealed the deal as they never gave up the lead once during the game, as Taissa Nascimento Queiroz’s double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds led the team in both categories on top of her excellent playmaking, while Camila De Pool and Sofia Muñoz shared the scoring load with 14 points each for Puerto Rico.

Canada 92 – 24 El Salvador

Topping their group in group play, Canada continued their streak of dominance in their statement win before heading into the Semi-Finals that will be another challenge in hopes of reaching the top of the podium.

While El Salvador got out to a hot start, Canada got into their rhythm slowly as they have all tournament and once they found the rim with ease, they kept the momentum on their side while figuring out how to play tougher defense than previously in the competition.

Cheyenne Rowe and Fatima Diakhaté both had their breakout game of the tournament as they each notched a double-double in the win, with Rowe tallying 12 points and 11 rebounds while Diakhaté added 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Every player who took the floor for Canada scored at least 4 points the match solidifying their stellar well-rounded play with a full team able to score while also controlling the boards.

El Salvador also had 8 players on the scoresheet as they faced a tough Canadian defense that allowed just 16 percent of El Salvador’s shots to fall while also forcing multiple turnovers that Canada converted to baskets.

Colombia 55 – 64 Argentina

Battling for the last of the Semi-Final spots, Colombia and Argentina closed out the night of action with one of the closest games of the day as Argentina edged Colombia for the win and the final spot to compete for a medal.

Argentina got to a fast-paced start but were quickly met with the same energy by Colombia in the second quarter and were holding onto a slim five-point lead heading into halftime as Argentina continued to play hard in the paint and use any opportunity possible to find the basket, they widened the gap to 10 points heading the final frame of action.

Colombia refused to go down without a fight, cutting Argentina’s lead to just 5 points in the final minute of play, but even after winning the final quarter, trailing for most of the game they could not close the gap on Argentina even after finding the offensive firepower of their own that they lacked in the first quarter.

Argentina’s star scoring trio turned up in the win as Nicole Tapari led the team with 14 points, Lara Tribouley helped with 13 points, and Julia Fernandez added 12 points and 8 rebounds in the win. Juliana Gomez led Colombia with a whopping 23 points including shooting 53 percent from beyond the three-point arc accounting for 21 of her points and Maria Salguedo added 11 points.

FIBA