Paris, France (Sept. 4, 2024) – Becca Murray came off a screen a few feet from the left elbow. As she readied to pass the ball, she spotted Ixhelt Gonzalez dashing toward the block from the weak side. Gonzalez flashed her hands, and the captain delivered a decisive pass.

She was all alone in the paint, having beaten her defender to the spot, and she made no mistake on the layup.

“Our offensive plays were very aggressive,” Gonzalez said. “(I had to) keep attacking the paint, because somehow, someone’s going to get open.”

In this instance, she was the one to get open, extending Team USA’s lead to three with just two minutes to play.

After forty physical, back-and-forth minutes at Bercy Arena, the U.S. came out on top 59-52 in the quarterfinals of the Paralympic women’s wheelchair basketball tournament against Great Britain.

Gonzalez, just 20 years old, has developed into a key piece for Team USA. On Wednesday, she scored a game-high 16 points with eleven rebounds, her first double-double of the Games.

“She’s kind of our fire right now offensively,” Rose Hollerman said of her teammate. “She comes off the bench and has such intensity. She’s playing so composed. She’s getting to the basket. She’s kind of being the big girl, being that energy we need offensively right now.”

Her incisive cut came at a critical juncture, giving the U.S. its largest lead since the beginning of the fourth quarter. Great Britain furiously stampeded back from ten points down in the final two minutes to the third quarter, eventually taking a 45-44 lead with nine minutes to play. From there, the sides played hot potato, exchanging the lead until the final run.

Feeding off her more experienced teammates, Gonzalez bounced back from a zero-for-five performance against Japan to turn in her best game on the biggest stage.

“My teammates are presenting themselves as the best outside shooters of all time,” she explained. “It’s just my goal to have them stay open on the dive, or if they get me open, I have to finish their success because they’ve worked so hard.”

Checking into the game for the first time with Team USA one-for-eight from the field, Gonzalez immediately shifted the energy. On her first offensive possession, she cleared space for Murray and delivered an assist. A few minutes later, Murray repaid the favor, and Gonzalez made her first shot, an and-one from ten feet out.

The U.S. took a 31-24 lead into halftime thanks to her twelve points. However, she spent much of the third quarter on the bench.

Despite Gonzalez’s success, offense was still difficult and uncomfortable for Team USA for much of the game.

“(Great Britain) came out with aggression,” Murray said. “They didn’t let our shooter just sit behind the screen and have that open shot.”

Mired in another tough offensive stretch and the lead cut down to four in the third quarter, Team USA head coach Christina Schwab called timeout.

She looked to her veteran captain to restore order.

On a broken play, Murray took a few dribbles toward the left baseline and drained a 17-footer on the first possession after the timeout.

“I’ve been through these games before where it’s gotten close,” Murray remembers. “It’s just about maintaining that composure. It was only a couple of points, it’s not like we were out of the game, and there was plenty of time left.”

For Great Britain, a two-for-twelve display from the foul line highlights plenty of missed opportunities that could have flipped the game.

After Gonzalez’s fourth-quarter cut, British captain Robyn Love missed two free throws, and Team USA scored on the other end to extend the lead to five.

It never came that close again.

Next up, the U.S. takes on China in the semifinals on Friday.