Day 4: Virgin Islands upset Brazil, historic Puerto Rico, Argentina qualifies

BUENOS AIRES (FIBA Women’s AmeriCup) – On the fourth day of competition, Virgin Islands shocked the continent to claim an overtime win over Brazil. Paraguay continued its magical run in the championship with an overtime win over Mexico, Puerto Rico got one step closer to the Semi-Finals after a historic first-time win over Cuba, and Argentina extended to a 3-0 record and qualified to the Semi-Finals.

Overtime was needed for Paraguay to capture its second win of the FIBA Women’s Championship over Mexico 73-67. The game was even, both teams led by monstrous performances from their offensive main weapons, for Paraguay it was Paola Ferrari who added 25 points, while Jacqueline Luna led the way for Mexico with a 24-point and 16-rebound “double-double”. Neither team could pull away and after 40 minutes of play, overtime was needed to determine a winner. The appeared the figure of Ferrari who led her team to a 9-2 performance in the additional 5 minutes to claim the win.

In a major upset, Virgin Islands handed undefeated Brazil its first loss at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup with a 67-60 overtime win. From the get-go, the team coached by Wilo Colon matched up with the more experienced Brazil. With huge performances from Natalie Day and Imani Tate, who combined for 38 of their team’s point, the Caribbean team came from behind and forced overtime. Brazil couldn’t believe what was happening and the Virgin Islands grew in confidence, to produce a 9-2 overtime and claimed the shocking upset against the South American Champions.

Puerto Rico made history by claiming its first ever win over Cuba 70-67, and took a step closer to the Semi-Final qualification. Both teams had a slow start, but that all changed in the second quarter when with great energy Puerto Rico took control of the scoreboard with a 26-12 quarter. The second half saw Cuba start to chip away from the difference with great moments from Anisleidy Galindo, who had 20 of Cuba’s points. With less than a minute to go the difference was of three-points, Puerto Rico held the ball for time to expire and took the significant win. Pamela Rosado put on the Super Woman cape for Puerto Rico and produced 17 points for the Boricuas.

Argentina extended its record to 3-0 with a 70-47 win over Colombia. The Argentinians captured a slight lead from the get-go, and never relinquished the advantage. With 15 assists and taking advantage of Colombia’s 19 turnovers the home team kept adding to the difference. Colombia couldn’t answer back and the Argentine secured the win and the qualification to the Semi-Finals. With 16 points and 6 rebounds, Melisa Gretter led the way for the Argentine win.

Tomorrow on the last day of the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup Group Phase the four Semi-Finals will be determined when Canada faces Paraguay, Mexico takes on Cuba, Venezuela faces Colombia and Argentina faces South American rivals Brazil.

The top-three teams from the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2017 will qualify to the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018 in Spain.

FIBA