USA and Australia to Meet in U25 Wheelchair Basketball Finals

Australia upended host nation Canada and the USA defeated Great Britain in Wednesday’s semifinals of the Women’s U25 Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Ontario, Canada, to set up a mouth watering gold-medal game.

Amber Merritt put up a game-high 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Aussies’ 60-47 win, while Canada’s Cindy Ouellet and Abby Stubbert combined for just 14 points, as their squad was hindered by costly turnovers.

In the other semifinal, Great Britain’s Helen Freeman finished with 26 points, but the USA’s Desiree Miller tallied 23 points and Rebecca Murray added 22 to help the Americans make a late push in the second half and close out the contest with a 63-48 victory.

The gold-medal game will tip off Friday at 1 a.m. (CET), while Canada and Great Britain will play for the bronze on Thursday at 10:45 p.m. (CET).

In the consolation bracket, Germany defeated South Africa, 52-30, on Wednesday and Japan beat Mexico, 65-52. Mexico will now challenge South Africa for seventh place Thursday at 5 p.m. (CET) and Germany and Japan will fight for fifth place Thursday at 9:15 p.m. (CET).