By Steve Drumwright
USA Basketball
Reprinted with permission
While there was no redemption for the USA Women’s AmeriCup Team on Sunday, the 12 college players representing their country at a senior-level event for the first time could more than hold their heads high.
Despite a strong first half, the top-ranked U.S. fell to 13th-ranked Brazil 69-58 in the 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup gold medal game in Leon, Mexico. The Americans earned the silver medal after posting a 5-2 record, with both losses coming to a Brazilian team with much more cohesion and an average of eight years older. Brazil, which beat the Americans 67-54 on the Fourth of July in group play to snap a 19-game winning AmeriCup streak, outscored the U.S. 25-10 in the third quarter to take control.
“(Brazil) just play with such pace and just keep coming at you,” U.S. coach Kamie Ethridge said. “It felt like a really experienced team against someone still trying to figure it out a little bit too much. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t win the gold, but I thought the effort was amazing from our team and the entire time, especially tonight. They’re very upset that they couldn’t take home the gold. They have a lot of pride in representing USA Basketball and I think this will be a positive experience for them.”
Tournament MVP Kamilla Soares had 20 points, 11 rebounds and three steals to lead Brazil, which won all seven games of the tournament to win its sixth AmeriCup gold, extending its record. In clinching its spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Brazil won the AmeriCup for the first time since 2011. The U.S., which already had its ticket to Paris as the seven-time defending Olympic gold medalist and winner of last year’s Women’s World Cup, has won four golds, the same as Cuba, and two silvers in the seven times it has played in the AmeriCup.
Rickea Jackson (Tennessee) paced the U.S. with 22 points — the most by an American in the tournament — and eight rebounds. Lauren Betts (UCLA) added 10 points and 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the AmeriCup. The U.S. shot just 29.6% (21-of-71) to Brazil’s 46.8% (29-of-62). As usual, the U.S. controlled the boards, with a 56-35 advantage.
Jackson — who led the U.S. in scoring at 14.6 points per game — as well as Soares, Brazil’s Damiris Dontas, Canada’s Kayla Alexander and Puerto Rico’s Arella Guirantes made the All-Star Five all-tournament team. Alexander led fifth-ranked Canada to the bronze medal, with 13 points and 19 rebounds in an 80-73 victory over 10th-ranked Puerto Rico. The U.S. beat Canada in the semifinals.
“I learned a lot of things, especially the physicality, playing against some WNBA vets,” Jackson said. “It just kind of showed me what the league will probably be like, going against that physicality, knowing that I have to adjust. Just know that I have to do other things and we have to punch them first. They’re very experienced. We just have to come out with more energy, but all credit to Brazil.”
Jackson certainly came out with energy and made sure the U.S. got off to a strong start. After trailing 8-2, the U.S. went on an 6-0 run to tie it and Jackson capped her 10-point first quarter with a putback at the buzzer for a 16-14 U.S. edge.
A key moment came just 21 seconds into the second quarter when backup Brazil center Erika De Souza, a 41-year-old playing in her 101st FIBA game and captain of the team, was ejected after her second technical foul as the teams lined up for USA free throws.
While Laila Phelia (member of the University of Michigan Women’s Basketball Team and a former guard at Mount Notre Dame High School in Reading, Ohio) made all three free throws for a 19-14 lead, Brazil channeled its emotions from De Souza’s ejection and countered with an 8-0 run. But the U.S. didn’t wilt, going on a 12-2 run — including 3-pointers by Tennessee teammates Jackson and Jewel Spear — to go up 31-24 with 3:49 left before halftime. The seven-point lead was the biggest for the U.S. in the opening 20 minutes and was easily more than the three-point advantage that was its largest in Tuesday’s matchup.
Once again as the quarter closed, Jackson scored at the buzzer, this time after a terrific pass from Reese, who was triple-teamed in the post, as the U.S. led 37-35.
But Brazil’s experience became a factor in the third quarter, using a pressing defense and sharing the ball on offense for a 18-4 run that put the Brazilians on top 49-41 with 2:57 remaining. A 3-pointer by Emanuely Olivares made it 56-45 with 2:00 to go and the U.S. trailed 60-47 entering the final 10:00, its biggest deficit of the game to that point.
Brazil stretched that lead to as much as 16 in the fourth quarter, but the U.S. showed fight until the end, trimming it to nine before the final margin.
“I think we brought a young team knowing that we were really going to put a challenge in front of them,” Ethridge said. “I hope they take away that they shouldn’t back down to anybody, USA Basketball shouldn’t. We shouldn’t be satisfied with (silver), that’s just in us. We need to win gold. But we put this team in a position that it was almost an impossible thing that we were asking them to do, and they almost did it anyway. And so I don’t think we could have done any more.”
Team USA defeated Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba, Columbia and Canada to reach the finals.