Serbia shock hosts Brazil to set up a decisive Sunday slate of games

BELÉM (Brazil) - Serbia upset Brazil at home, 72-65, Saturday night to keep their hopes alive toward qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games.

 

A stunned crowd of 9,018 people at Arena Guilherme Paraense were left shocked as the Europeans showed more poise down the stretch to come away with a victory that got them to a 1-1 record at this FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

 

And on a game that winless Brazil could only afford to lose by 7 points, a huge three-pointer by Damiris Dantas with 31 seconds left in regulation and a last-second missed free throw by Ivana Raca allowed the South Americans to fight another day.

Turning point: With the victory almost surely in the bag, Serbia needed to push their lead to 8 points. They suffered a massive setback on Dantas’ big shot but then got a big layup from Dragana Stankovic on an offensive free throw.

 

 

In the next possession, they managed to stop Brazil (missed three-pointer from Tainá Paixao) and as they attacked for their last possession, Raca got fouled, sending her to the line with just 0.7 left in the game. She drained the first free throw but missed the second, cementing the final victory margin of 7 points that left everything to be determined on Sunday.

TCL Player of the Game: Yvonne Anderson put the team on her back and uncorked a masterful performance to lead Serbia.

 

The 33-year-old point guard scored 30 points on 11-16 from the field, including a perfect 8-8 at the free throw line. She added 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals in 36 minutes of action.

 

Stankovic had a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double on 75 percent from the field, while Jovana Nogic also contributed 10 points. 

Kamilla Cardoso had an efficient 16 points and 14 rebounds for Brazil. Dantas had 17 points and 8 rebounds but shot 6-18 from the field. They were the only players in double digits in José Neto’s squad.

Stats don’t lie: In a back-and-forth affair with plenty of lead changes, the biggest difference happened at the charity stripe.

Serbia shot 18-23 (including 16 of their first 17) at the charity strip, while Brazil went 11-19, leaving just enough points on the table to account for the difference in the final score.

However, the Europeans missed 4 of their last 6 free throws. Taking into account that they finished a point away from qualifying today, surely they’d love to have at least one of those go in.

Serbia had a small edge on the boards (46-43) and scored 16 second-chance points. Conversely, Brazil had a 34-30 advantage in points in the paint. 

Both teams shot poorly from the outside, with Serbia going 2-18 and Brazil finishing just 6-31.

Bottom line: Absolutely everything will be determined on Sunday. Brazil will face Germany, with everything on the line. Serbia will go against an Australian team that has already qualified, but that will want to leave Belém undefeated. Check out who needs to win and they need to win to qualify HERE.

They said: "I'm obviously satisfied with the win, however there were still a few details that could have been better. Even though we got the win, there were things we said in the fourth quarter that we didn't do right. We played against a team that's bigger than us, that's way more physical than us, and a very, very good team to begin with and a lot of quality and great individually. It was very hard playing against them, especially with the fans, with the crowd and everything. It wasn't easy." - Serbia head coach Marina Maljkovic.

"Coming off the Germany game, the big thing was to win and then try to look like we're on the same page, and to play as a team and in a flow. There were moments when we looked really good and did really good things, and moments when we didn't. Fourth quarter especially. To be the team we want to be, we have to learn to close out in the way we know how to. We don't have a lot of time to fix that but, like I said, the main thing was getting the win so just glad for that." - Serbia point guard Yvonne Anderson.

"I want to congratulate Serbia on a great win (that allowed them) to fight for a place in Paris. I think we played (well), maybe not well enough to win this game. We scored more (buckets) than them, we had more assists and not too many turnovers. I believe we (failed to) win this game in the las minutes, when we could've won it but didn't play to win. Now I need to think about the opportunity we have tomorrow. We have another opportunity to win the game. It will depend on the first game between Serbia and Australia." - Brazil head coach José Neto.

"It's an emotional time because I think about my family and my daughter. And while the players on these teams play in Euroleague or great tournaments, we're only practicing. The teams in Brazil don't play at this time. It's very emotional because when we wear the Brazilian shirt, these things come to mind." - Brazil power forward Sassá Gonçalves.

 

FIBA