Spanish power forward Gala Mestres with 21 points and 11 rebounds and point guard María Mercado with 17 points led the Paraguayans, while power forward Julieta Armesto added 14.
In the Uruguayan team, the North American Jacinta Monroe was double figure with 22 points and 11 sacks and the Argentine Julieta Alé contributed 13 units and seven sacks.
Paraguayan forward Paola Ferrari, who was designated as the Most Valuable Player of the competition, finished this game with seven points and five rebounds.
After an even first quarter of 14 goals per side, the Paraguayan team adjusted their defense in the second half and got 23 points, allowing only four to the Uruguayan team, which had no answers against their opponent, and went away by 19 (37- 18) at the close of the first half.
The difference reached 24 for those led by Ronaldo Córdoba, but the reaction of the host team, achieving a partial 18-8, made the match become more close and with the adjustment in the shots from long distance by Aldana Gayoso and Lucia Schiavo got close to 12 (50-38) by the end of the third period.
However, the reaction did not allow the hosts to get below two figures and that was taken advantage of by the winners, who played calmly in the last few seconds and won a historic victory for Paraguayan basketball.
“It is a great pride, we worked very hard to get where we are and we were rewarded. We finished undefeated, we left everything on the field and you could see that. The key was going to be defense, we knew we were facing a very tough opponent, but the work paid off. This victory is very important for Paraguayan basketball”, said María Mercado.
Coach Ronaldo Córdoba’s team, who finished the South American tournament undefeated with five wins, controlled the boards 40 to 29 and got 17 points for the 15 losses of their opponent, they also resorted to long-distance shots converting 40% of pitches (25-10) to reaffirm that it was the best team in that category (1st with 41.7%) throughout the championship.
While on the other side, the team led by Gino Alderete shot for 37% in field goals, and was not very successful from the 6.75 line, finishing with only 26.7% (15-4).
The entrance Felix Perez conquers the South American League! was first published in diary TODAY.
