International Tournament of Champions Wheelchair Basketball closes with USA on Top

Aug. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Charlotte, NC – The USA National Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team once again asserted their dominance with a second win over Japan in the title game of the inaugural International Tournament of Champions held in Huntersville, North Carolina, just north of Charlotte.

In this summer of USA versus Japan in women’s sports – Japan took the soccer World Cup while the USA prevailed in softball - the Americans had opened the tournament against the up and coming side across the Pacific. In that game the USA took the lead in the second quarter and kept extending it. But a more resilient Japan showed up in the final having already upset Germany, still the world’s second best team, to make the final.

After the USA ran to a 6-0 lead, Japan stormed back to lead by eight after one quarter and held by two at the half. Slowly and surely though, the Americans with their 12-deep roster wore them down and took the lead by one going into the fourth. From there, it was all red, white and blue as the defending Paralympic and World champions cruised to a 62-47 win.

In the men’s final, the USA Blue team – the Americans played a split squad to give sixteen players more court time – played Great Britain for the second day in a row, having won the first match 67-43. In the gold game, tournament MVP Jay Nelms and his mates gave no quarter again running up a 21 point lead after three and holding on to win 55-48.

Australia’s men beat Germany 64-61 for fifth place while Canada defeated USA White 69-61 for third.

Germany’s women took third over the Netherlands 60-56.

The tournament was hosted by the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) and sponsored by Visit Lake Norman and the Cornelius and Huntersville Parks & Recreation Departments.

Selected games were webcast live and are archived at http://www.livestream.com/nwba.  More information is available at http://www.nwba.org. One year younger than the NBA, the NWBA has been holding court since 1948.



Saturday Scores

Men
First Place: USA Blue 55  Great Britain 48
Third Place: Canada 69  USA White 61
Fifth Place: Australia 64  Germany 61

Women
First Place: USA 62  Japan 47
Third Place: Germany 60  Netherlands 56

Friday Scores

Men
Germany 60  USA White 55
USA Blue 60  Canada 49
USA White 84  Japan 44
Great Britain 75  Australia 70
Canada 73  Germany 59
Australia 75  Japan 61
USA Blue 67 Great Britain 43

Women
Japan 78  Canada 63
USA 62  Germany 46
Japan 52  Netherlands 51
USA 59  Canada 47

Thursday Scores

Men
Great Britain 70 Canada 50
Germany 59  Japan 52
Canada 67  Australia 52
USA White 62  Great Britain 55
USA Blue 74  Germany 52
Canada 74  Japan 39
USA Blue 66  Austalia 52

Women
Netherlands 70  Canada 66
Japan 67  Germany 58  
Germany 61  Canada 46
USA 61  Netherlands 44


Wednesday Scores

Men
USA White 78  Australia 59
USA Blue 61   Japan 34
Great Britain 64  Germany 55
Great Britain 66  Japan 62
Australia 71  Germany 61
Canada 67  USA White 64

Women
Germany 61  Netherlands 45
USA 59  Japan 42