ESP - Composed Ortiz leads Spain on another hunt for gold

PUERTO MONTT (2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - Mariona Ortiz's stat line of 10 points and 4 assists doesn't look too impressive in isolation, but in the midst of the pressure cooker Semi-Final between Spain and Australia, it was a superb performance.

Spain would prevail 55-49 in an incredibly intense encounter, shaking of the relentless Australians who rallied from eight points down to tie the game on five different occasions. Ortiz scored all 10 points and handed out two assists in the second half as Spain outscored Australia 31-29.

For Ortiz, the Spanish spirit had prevailed. "It's like the coach said the other day in the locker room," she said. "The Spanish have our own identity, (we are) emotional and it comes from the heart. It makes us a little bit different, a little bit fiery."

The last minute victory kept Ortiz and Spain's dream of adding to their impressive collection of medals alive.

The 183cm swingman already possesses three gold medals and a silver from underage European championships, including the 2009 U18 championship gold where she scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the final.

The 18 year old from Barcelona believes the close bond built amongst their team is one of their key ingredients.
 
"In Spain our teams play together from 13 or 14 years old, and start with under 16 European championships and then every year," she said. "We meet up every summer time, we keep in touch during the league season, we have a really good connection."

Not surprisingly, Ortiz said she always enters a tournament looking for a gold medal. "The chance of winning the gold medal is always there, it is the dream," she said. "Then when the games are on you start to realise whether you can win the gold or not, but you always come to the tournament with the illusion of gold."

A spot on the dais looked a long way off for the Spaniards early in the tournament, when they were defeated by Brazil, Australia and France. "We were a little worried because we couldn't see ourselves playing well," she said.
 
"But the games passed and we felt like we were coming together as a group. Once we realised that we were becoming a strong group again we stopped worrying."

Those results seemed like a long time ago as Ortiz and her teammates celebrated their Semi-Final win jubilantly in mid-court. "It was like a dream becoming reality so at the end we were all just really happy."

And will she experience that feeling again tomorrow? "Nobody knows, but when you play a final it is just to win. If our team plays well and we stick together, and everything goes just fine we will win," she said.
 
"If not, we will shake the other team's hand and say well done."




FIBA