Alex ‘Ally’ Wilson picked up right where she left off against Germany, splashing in four two-pointers to lead Australia to a 21-15 group stage win over China at La Concorde, Paris.
With the game evenly poised at 10-8 in Australia’s favour, Ally Wilson scored nine of the Gangurrus’ last 11 points of the game to hold off China.
“Ally stood up,” teammate Lauren Mansfield said.
“She was incredible, shooting the twos and attacking the bucket.”
China’s 3x3 women’s basketball team is one of the tallest teams in the competition, a stark contrast to the Aussies, who don’t have a player over 6ft (1.83m). But what they gave up in height, they made up for in speed and physicality.
“We fought really well against their size, and I think we made up for that by attacking the basket.”
That got Australia off to a strong 5-2 start, with sharp passing and cuts to the basket creating easy points.
At 8-8, Australia regained the lead for good when Lauren found Anneli Maley for a layup, using the rim to protect her attempt from the shot blocker Mingling Chen.
Ally found her way to the same spot on the court, where she defeated Germany and made the team's first two-pointer, giving the Gangurrus a 12-8 lead five and a half minutes in.
China continued to stay within striking distance on the scoreboard, but their one-point makes and lone two-pointer were no match for Ally’s outside shooting.
The Gangurrus are now sporting a 2-1 record in the tournament, with a match against the US coming up in just a matter of hours, set to start at 9pm AEST.
“It’s a completely different team, so we’ve got to do our homework. We’ll rest up and watch some of their games.”
Jeff Dickinson-Fox
