Australia’s Women’s 3x3 Basketball team has split its two pool games on day six to sit third overall heading towards finals.
The top two teams progress to the semi-finals and teams 3-6 compete in a play-in to join them.
After moving to the top of the pool with a 21-12 win over Azerbaijan, the Aussies then lost to Spain 21-17 at La Concorde in Paris.
Marena Whittle led Australia’s scoring with seven points against Spain while Alex Wilson and Anneli Maley both registered five.
“I’m proud of the three of us, it’s super hard when you don’t have a sub, so we were in the game the whole time and I’m really proud of how we battled out there,” Alex said.
“I think our focus quickly turns to France now and getting that last win before we head into finals play. So good for us that we’ve banked some early wins and hopefully this one doesn’t affect us too much.”
In the earlier game against Azerbaijan, Marena top scored with eight points, while Alex added seven and Lauren Mansfield five.
It was Marena who opened the scoring with a successful two-point shot and when she scored again soon after it opened up a 7-1 lead.
Despite conceding some turnovers, Australia maintained its lead with strong defensive plays and rebounds from Alex and Anneli Maley, and recorded a convincing victory at La Concorde.
“We did really well to stay with it, it got a little bit feisty and lots of fouls and our group was really good with handling that adversity and still playing our game,” Alex said.
“Our game starts from how we play defensively and we set the tone and our offence flows, and all four of us can score 10 points on any given night.
“Our group is so close-knit that we can pull each other in at times like that and stick together and not worry about what the other team is doing and push through those types of things as a unit.”
Australia’s next game is against France at 2.35am AEST on August 4.
Reece Homfray
