Gliders Humbled By Brits

It was a night where nothing quite went their way as the Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team suffered a heavy 75-38 loss to Great Britain on Day 4 of the Tokyo Paralympics.

While the Brits looked like they couldn’t miss, hitting 55 per cent from the field, the opposite was the case for the Gliders, who shot at only 32 per cent across the match.

Amber Merritt put in a huge effort in her milestone 200th game, playing the most minutes of the match and finishing with 14 points, just behind captain Georgia Munro-Cook who had 16.

The class of Great Britain shone through with five of their players scoring in double digits with superstar Laurie Williams posting 18 points.

The loss leaves the Gliders without a win after going down to Japan and Germany earlier in the pool phase.

Gliders Head Coach Craig Friday reflected on the loss and the challenge ahead for the group.

“We thought we scouted them pretty well but I thought we also didn’t execute our scout, I think that’s just the inexperience of the group,” he said.

“We continue to challenge them, we found some things work and a lot of other things don’t, the inexperience we have at this level is clearly showing out but you can’t gain any experience without playing these games. So we need to keep playing more games.

“It’s going to be long road back but that’s the path we have to travel.”

The Gliders play the last of their pool games on Sunday against Canada, with Friday saying they’ll take all they can from the experience this week.

“We’ll put the same process in place, we’ll have a look at the opposition , try to put a plan and a strategy together, head out there to training and ask the girls to execute it and see if we can gain something from the week.”

Results:
AUS 38 – 75 GBR

Next up:
Sunday 29 August, Australia v Canada, 8.30pm JPT/9.30pm AEDT, Musashino Forest Sport Plaza

By: Paralympics Australia
Posted: 28 August