The Australian Gangurrus are coming home with the Gold as both our Men and Women's teams finished a perfect tournament at the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup in Singapore last night.
Taking on rivals New Zealand in the final, the Women won 18 to 13 in a tight contest, with Alex Wilson nailing a clutch three to help secure the victory and back-to-back titles for our Women.
Wilson was named tournament MVP on the back of an impressive performance with Anneli Maley (31 points), Marena Whittle (30 points) and Lauren Mansfield (11 assists) all playing their part in the campaign.
Coached by former NBL legend Damon Lowery, the quartet went undefeated throughout the event beating the likes of India, Thailand, and Mongolia.
Wilson says to win again with the same group makes it even more special.
“It is an amazing feeling and not something that happens very often in any sporting code,” Wilson said.
“We have such a special group that all play for each other and we just want to win.”
“I feel like any one of us could have won MVP as we all showed out at different times in the tournament and that’s the beauty of our group. Being named MVP of the tournament was a shock but is an amazing feeling for me.”
Having started the tournament in the Qualifying Draw, the Men put together eight straight wins in impressive fashion, marking the first time the four had played together.
Hickey (27 points), O’Donnell (20 points, 20 rebounds), and Davey (11 points and 11 rebounds) all played integral roles in the tournament with Hickey providing plenty of highlights for the crowd.
Blanchfield says the buy-in from the start helped lead the team to a medal.
“To be able to bring in a fresh group with next to zero 3x3 experience and be able to do what we did was pretty special,” Blanchfield said.
“We wanted to hang our hat on the defensive end and that’s what we did. We took massive steps forward each game and to be able to hold a team like Iran to just 7 points really showed how far we came in such a short period of time.”
The Gangurrus competed in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 where the men took Silver and the women Bronze.
