USA maintained their winning record in the final pool game of the 2019 Women’s U25 World Championship, with a 56-31 win over Australia.
USA came out strong in both offense and defense winning the opening quarter 20-4, Abby Dunkin found her shooting range early on from for USA and their press defense caused the Australian’s problem. A closer second quarter ensued but USA held a comfortable 32-10 advantage at the break.
In the second half, USA changed up their rotations, and Emily Oberst had a big impact off the bench, but the Australian continued to fight and won the third quarter by 2, 14-12. The final period the USA steadied themselves, taking the quarter 12-7 and finish the game with a final score, 56-31.
The result means USA top Pool B and will meet Thailand in the quarter-finals, whilst Australia will come up against South Africa.
USA contained Australia’s Annabelle Lindsay well, who was previously averaging 35 points a game, keeping her down to just 10 points for the game.
Following the game, USA’s captain Rose Hollermann , said:
“The game went really well for us, we started out strong with our pressing line up and then throughout the game we were able to put some of the younger guys in. At times they did struggle but Australia are a really good match up. Annabelle (Lindsay) is a really hard person to stop defensively so it was great to see them step up and continue to keep the momentum going that they built in other games.
“We are having a lot of fun at the championship; I think it’s great that we are able to come here and develop some of the younger girls. They are doing a great job, they are really stepping up now, filling big shoes and doing fabulous.
“As always we always have a high bar set for ourselves but we are taking it one game at a time so our goal right now is to beat Thailand and then look at the next game after that when it comes.”
At only 16 years old, Tiesha Shadwell, stepped up for the Australian Devils with a double double, 11 points and 12 rebounds, she said:
“I think this was one of our best games we have had this tournament, even though the score didn’t show it, we all worked together and we all pushed our hardest and played our best games, and gave as much as we could.
“We are quite a new team, and everyone is just learning, the majority of us still have a number of World Championships left in us, so we are just using this to gel and bond the team for the future so we are ready for the next ones to come.”
Commenting on making her international debut for Australia, Shadwell said:
“It’s definitely an eye opener to come to a world event like this, it is a great opportunity to get a view of what it might be like going into the senior team and how tough these competitions are. It’s really preparing us for the bigger things to come further down the line.”
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