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| Jennifer O'Neill. (FIBA.basketball photo) |
Puerto Rico concluded its 2021 FIBA Women's AmeriCup campaign with a silver medal finish, falling short only to the United States, 74-59 on Saturday.
The team previously defeated Canada, 65-61 in the semi-finals, a result that most consider unexpected as the team went on to garner a podium finish. In the process, they also advanced to the qualification tournament for the 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Australia next year.
"I've been saying that this is the important tournament that we have this year. The Olympics is the biggest stage that we are going to be in, and that will be a great experience but for us, this tournament is huge," head coach Gerardo Batista said.
"It's trying to qualify for the qualifying tournament for the (World Cup) next year so for us, it is a growing experience and it is so important."
In the 2020 FIBA qualifiers, Puerto Rico beat Brazil in a dramatic overtime game to book a historic slot to the Tokyo Olympics for the first time.
Now, they are drawing off from the experience of getting vital games in to build more chemistry and cohesion against the world's powerhouse squads while also using it as a gauge to see where they are at this point.
In a way, having the tournament played first instead of the Olympics due to the global health circumstances came in as an advantage for the world no. 23 team.
"It's good for us to have this tournament before we go to Tokyo. It was a lot of new faces," leading scorer Jennifer O'Neill said.
"It's good for us to have this tournament before we go to Tokyo. It was a lot of new faces," leading scorer Jennifer O'Neill said. "Something that we always always fall back on is the family atmosphere that we have with each other. It's really a system so when we get back together, yes, it's a learning curve but we fall back into the chemistry that we had in the previous years."
Just a week earlier, O'Neill admitted the team was abruptly formed, and the games they played in the tournament are much-needed to get a better feel of where they stand at the moment.
"I just joined the team, so we are playing for the first time in this tournament. Right now, there are still things we are learning and working on," O'Neill remarked in the group stage. "As we go through the process of this tournament and continue to play, and make it to where we want to go, we got to continue to grow, and this is in preparation for us to enter the Olympics."
Jazmon Gwathmey, perhaps one of the most prominent names in the line-up for non-Puerto Ricans, also stressed how serious her team is when it comes to performing well in Tokyo, not relying on just how they can will themselves with sheer talent.
"It's pretty big. We tend to every year, short amount of time we get together and just like that, we kind of click. It took us a little longer this go-around but we are starting to get it, I think our defense is starting to get better, our communication is getting better, offense is starting to flow more. These next couple of games are very crucial going into Tokyo," Gwathmey said.
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| Jazmon Gwathmey. (FIBA.basketball photo) |
The 6-foot-2 forward took it upon herself to lead Puerto Rico in the quarter-finals, scoring 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting as they had to overcome a strong first quarter from Colombia and win, 77-69.
Better for Puerto Rico is also having a glimpse of fellow Olympic squads. It also played the United States in the group stage, where it lost 87-65.
"As far as the success, we are always going to be the underdogs, but, I like being that. I feel like we thrives off that. Nobody really expects anything from us," O'Neill added.
"You know, when they see us on paper versus when they see us on the floor, the first thing they always see is, wow, you guys are really small, so, that's always going to be the case. But, we look forward to competing with the top-tier level teams in Tokyo and just basically testing our abilities against the best in the world."
Puerto Rico is grouped with Australia, China, and Belgium in the Olympic tournament. The top two teams advance outright to the quarter-finals, while the third-ranked teams in each of the three groups will have to play each other to determine the final two entrants.
While generally seen as a team led only by two stars, Puerto Rico packs some depth, with four different players outside of O'Neill and Gwathmey averaging at least 6 PPG throughout the AmeriCup.
"It feels amazing. We've been at this for a long time with our coaches, our players, our staff. I think we just bought in, like we've been able to compete at this level for a while now and we were able to show it (against Canada) shows we're going to keep growing,"Ali Gibson shared.
Battling and putting a decent fight against the gold standard in women's hoops only make the team more comfortable and ready when they arrive for Tokyo, noted forward Tayra Melendez.
"It gives us an opportunity to play some more, to play teams of high level, that we are going to see at some point in the Olympics," Melendez said of the AmeriCup.
"We know USA is going to be in there, Canada is going to be in. So it's very important for us to see the level that we are going to see in the Olympics early on, that when we get there, there's no surprises, we feel more comfortable and we learn the things we need to learn now. When we get there, we will be ready to go."
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