The National Women’s Basketball Team continues to celebrate

The Women’s National Basketball Team continues to celebrate after its historic participation in the Sydney 2022 World Cup.

And it is that once the tournament ended with the final on Friday, the team was in eighth place among the 12 nations that participated. This represents an advance of eight places with respect to their participation in 2018, when they were in position 16.

Unlike the last World Cup, in which 16 countries played, this year only 12 qualified, which represented a more competitive tournament. In first place was the United States with its victory in the final over China. Australia, Canada, Belgium, Serbia, France, Puerto Rico, Japan, South Korea, Mali and Bosnia-Herzegovina followed.

This was only the second participation of Puerto Rico in the Women’s Basketball World.

And the Island has another reason to celebrate, as Arella Guirantes was recognized with her inclusion in the second all-star team. The Puerto Rican guard was part of the team along with Alyssa Thomas, from the United States; Li Yueru, from China; Gabby Williams, from France; and Yvonne Anderson, from Serbia.

Thomas was selected as the best defensive player of that team and Chinese coach Zheng Wei as the best coach.

In determining the chosen one, Guirantes was highlighted as the best scorer in the tournament with averages of 18.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. In addition, they highlighted that her debut at this level of competition was enormous, with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists in Puerto Rico’s historic first victory in a World Cup, defeating Bosnia Herzegovina in their first game by a score of 82- 58.