Women's Finals: Deutschland uber alles; USA get double-dutched
LONDON (Paralympics) - A new Paralympic champions was crowned as Germany finally traded Paralympic silver for gold in defeating Australia 58-44 in front of a capacity crowd of 12,985 at the North Greenwich Arena.
"Silver sucks and gold is unbelievable," said German mainstay Marina Mohnen.
It culminates an undefeated run here in London for the German team which had to look up one step on the podium to the United States in the 2010 World Championships and 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
Australia did not go quietly into that good night, pushing Germany, falling back, then pushing again to make sure their victory was well earned.
Yet another German player stepped up when her team needed her. Against Great Britain in the Quarter-Final it was Annika Zeyen. on Friday night, it was Mareike Adermann who came off the bench for Gesche Schuenemann 4:15 into the first quarter with the score just 4-2 for Australia.
The Aussies would go up 10-4, extending their only lead of the night. The 22-year-old Adermann made an immediate impact, scoring six points in a 10-0 run helping Germany go up by four. Australia would draw even but then see the former bridesmaids surge ahead for good.
It stayed close early on because neither team was particularly inclined to score. Until the fourth quarter that is. Both teams suddenly started finding the inside of the basket with regularity scoring as much in the quarter as they did in the first half.
But more so the Germans who outran Australia 24-16, quashing their hopes for good as they closed out the game.
"The ball would not go in in the hole," said Aussie coach John Triscari. "It was one of those games where the shots did not drop."
Adermann led Germany with 19 points. Zeyen added 12 and Marina Mohnen 11. Australia was led by a feisty Kylie Gauci, perhaps the smallest player on the court, but certainly the most active, with 15 points, the only one in double figures for the Aussies.
In the Bronze Medal Game, the Netherlands beat the USA 71-47.
Four years removed from a second consecutive gold medal, the Americans failed to make the podium, catching the Netherlands in nuclear windmill mode.
Mariska Beijer and Inge Huitzing combined for 53 points as the USA could not find any answer to them. Beijer scored 27 to go with 9 rebounds while Huitzing hit for 26 with 11 rebounds.
It is the first medal for Holland's women since a silver in 1996.
Though none would admit to it, just being in the Bronze Medal Game had to be stinging for the Americans who felt justifiably wronged at the conclusion of their Semi-Final when an officiating mistake cost a 24-second clock violation cost them a go-ahead basket against Australia with 1.9 seconds to play.
If they carried that frustration with them into this game it wasn't evident at first as the two teams played even for the first 10 minutes. That would change.
The American team looked disjointed as the Dutch imposed themselves in the second quarter, contesting everything, putting hands in the way of every pass, every shot. The rebounds bounced their way and every loose ball seemed to find home in Dutch hands. A 16-16 tie became a 14-point deficit at the half as the USA were outscored 22-8.
Holland coach Gert Jan van der Linden set an objective of winning a medal when he took over the team in November and started molding them into a winning combination. "Everybody was saying that is ridiculous because you are number six in the world rankings and China and others are better."
Others may have doubted but his team believed. In the second half it just got worse for the USA as the lead ballooned to 26.
"We did a lot of work," said van der Linden. "Today we were lucky; yesterday (in a 49-46 loss to Germany) we were unlucky. Yesterday, we played the same game but we missed the shots."
They only shot 48 % but it felt like everything was going in, particularly when Huitzing had the ball. She went 11 of 18 for 61%. Roos Oosterbaan went 6 of 11 for 55 %.
This Netherlands team has taken the personality of its coach, a relentless perfectionist. He's taught his charges that you can make your own luck if you work for it.
"We play more aggressively," said Beijer of her coach's influence, "grabbing eah ball and making a run for it."
And work they did, harassing the Americans with defensive determination and shots that just went in. Such as throwing ball up as clock expires for a three pointer to go up 48-28. Everything was going their way, every shot had eyes for the net.
"We pretty much got beaten in every facet of the game by a very hot team that was able to put together their best game of the tournament," said USA coach David Kiley.
"They are young, they're well coached and they have tremendous resources backing them up. They're pretty well tooled for the future."
