U.S. Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Survives Scare From Great Britain To Advance to Semifinal

PARIS – Ixhelt Gonzalez converted an uncontested lay-up off a sweet backdoor pass from Becca Murray to give Team USA a 53-50 lead over Great Britain. It was a defining moment and a lead that the U.S. wouldn’t relinquish over the final two minutes in a 59-52 victory over their fellow English-speaking foes.

“It was a moment of relief – it felt like the world was off of our shoulders,” said Gonzalez, about the pivotal play.

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games quarterfinal win at Bercy Arena on Wednesday afternoon sends the U.S. women onwards to a semifinal contest versus China, in two days, on Friday, Sept. 6.

Gonzalez – who at age 20, is the youngest player on Team USA – led the winning effort, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, while Rose Hollermann tallied 15 points and 13 boards.

Hollermann commended the red-hot Gonzalez, a petit player who displays experience on the hardwood well beyond her years.

“Ixhelt is young, but this is her second Paralympics – you can see that she is seasoned,” Hollermann said. “She’s changed her mentality and is kind of like our fire right now offensively. She comes off the bench with such intensity. 

“We’ve had her on the team since she was teeny-tiny, so seeing this moment is really incredible for us,” she added.

The U.S. appeared to be cruising comfortably, possessing a 31-24 halftime lead. However, they would let it slip away. Great Britain’s Robyn Love scored from outside the paint to nab the lead, 48-47, with just over seven minutes remaining in the back-and-forth affair.

However, the U.S. didn’t panic and after more than two minutes without either team finding the net, Hollerman broke the drought scoring two key points off a nice feed from Courtney Ryan. The U.S. regained the lead, 49-48. Team GB jumped back ahead one minute later with two more from Love, before U.S. team captain Murray answered one minute later to propel the U.S. ahead, this time for keeps.

“It’s all about trust on this team and we wanted to make sure that no matter what happened in the third quarter, or the second half that we would come out on top,” said Gonzalez, who resides in Chicago, but whose parents are of Mexican descent.

The largest U.S. lead was 10 points, while at one stage Great Britain led by four.

Team USA women’s wheelchair basketball – who brought home a bronze medal three years ago at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games – seek to extend their run here in Paris versus China in two days. 

“China has been super excellent and has rightfully been in the gold medal games in all the last majors (tournaments),” Hollermann said. China claimed silver, having faltered to the Netherlands at Tokyo 2020.

“They’re so regimented and they always do the right thing every play, so we have to be disciplined. We have to focus on ourselves and if we play the basketball that we know we can we’ll be in the gold medal game.”

The red, white and blue last won the women’s Paralympic wheelchair basketball gold at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, having defeated Germany.

Gonzalez would like nothing more than to bring a gold medal home to the U.S., just like three guys named LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant were able to on the very same court at the very same Bercy Arena, a few weeks ago.

“For me, playing in this arena just shows how far our love for the sport takes us,” Gonzalez said. “My family is actually not here right now so I’m a little sad about that, but just the fact that we’re playing in the same arena as those Olympians is a really big thing for us.”