This Monday saw the start of the South American Under-18 women's basketball. The day began with the victory of Argentina, the host team of the contest, after adding their second win against Bolivia (0-2) and Ecuador leveled their record (1-1) by beating Paraguay, teams that are in Group A.
On the part of Group B, which also premiered this Monday, April 4, Chile beat Venezuela and Colombia needed extra time to beat Uruguay. On this last match, which had to be defined in extra time, the national team beat Uruguay in the debut of both in the South American U-18 women's basketball championship in Buenos Aires.
The second match of the day had an exciting close because it took extra time for the Colombian team to finally win against Uruguay, in the debut of both teams in Group B.
The reigning champion of the category, Colombia, won the first three sets 17-14, 30-22 and 44-32 and when everything seemed in his favor, Uruguay, who went from less to more, reacted with a 21-9 run in the last act and took the game to overtime. After losing by five (47-52), Pierina Rossi opened her account with four points and together with Lucia Auza, who scored double to equalize in 53, they confirmed the good celestial moment that allowed them to play five minutes.
But the Colombian team imposed their physical power and managed to dominate that span with a partial 8-4 to sentence the win, despite throwing only 22 percent from the penalty line (18-4), something that should improve in their next performances.
Guard Valeria Rodríguez took the tricolor offense with her contribution of 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and the same number of steals. Silvia Suárez, Tatiana Montaño, María José Salgado, the latter two coming from the bench, scored nine goals each.
For the Charrúas, Lucia Auza was a double figure with 21 units and 12 captures of the ball, Maite Pereira (15 and nine) and Paula Fernández (11 and 12) were the outstanding ones.
This Tuesday, on the third day of competition, there will be only one match for Group B. Chile will be played against Uruguay (11:30am local time). In Group A, Bolivia will face Paraguay at 14:30 and then Argentina will play with Brazil (1-0) who had a free date on Monday, at the close of the day (18:00). Colombia's next start will be on Wednesday, April 6 against Chile from 12:30 (Colombia time).
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