Beatrice Mompremier goes up for a shot at the Pan American Games Lima 2019 on Aug. 10, 2019 in Lima, Peru.
LIMA, Peru – The chants were deafening. They started with 1:37 left in the second quarter and reverberated throughout the Coliseo Eduardo Dibos for the rest of the game.
“BRA-ZIL! BRA-ZIL!”
Thriving off the antagonistic energy, the U.S. women’s basketball team fought hard throughout its gold-medal match against Brazil. But in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, Brazil put the game out of reach, thanks to a momentum-shifting three-pointer from shooting guard Patricia Teixeira. The U.S. fell, 79-73, earning the silver medal.
“I feel like we played a tough game,” said Beatrice Mompremier, Team USA’s top-scorer of the evening with 16 points. “The outcome wasn’t what everybody expected, but I feel like we played toe-to-toe with them.”
Team USA suffered from poor shooting throughout the contest, shooting just 34 percent from the field. However, the U.S. stayed in the game thanks to clutch performances from Mompremier and guard Chennedy Carter.
Mompremier dominated the glass, securing 12 rebounds throughout the game, nine of them on offense. Her double-double drove Team USA’s offense, leading to several second-chance points and fast-break layups.
Carter, the team’s top-scorer entering the gold-medal match, caught fire in the game’s second half. After scoring just two points in the game’s first two quarters, she made her presence known following a Team USA timeout with 4:20 to go in the third quarter. Carter jumpstarted the offense with a high-arcing three-pointer out of the break, followed by a steal and a fast-break layup.
In the end, however, Brazil’s high-pressure defense and up-tempo offense proved too strong for Team USA. Brazil went on a 10-2 scoring run in the game’s final minutes, extending the team’s lead to double-digits for the first time, 72-62, with 1:28 to play. Brazil then made seven of its final eight free throws to secure a 79-73 victory.
“The team worked hard for the last two and a half weeks, and we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted, but I thought we played hard,” team captain and University of South Carolina senior Tyasha Harris said. “It’s an amazing feeling, just because I feel like this was a mini-Olympics.”
For seven members of the U.S. women’s squad, the Pan American Games represented their first FIBA-sanctioned event with Team USA. Brittany Brewer, Kathleen Doyle, Michaela Onyenwere, Mikayla Pivec, Lindsey Pulliam, Kiana Williams and Peyton Williams donned red, white and blue for the first time in Lima.
The U.S. women now own an 82-16 record at the Pan American Games and have captured seven gold, six silver and two bronze medals all time. With tonight’s silver medal, USA Basketball medaled in every event at the Pan American Games Lima 2019, capping off a successful week of competition.