HAMBURG, GERMANY - Defenses keyed-in on Rose Hollermann of Elysian, Minnesota all week at the 2018 IWBF World Championships. Double-teams, traps, hard fouls, anything to keep the gold-medal U.S. Paralympian from getting into her rhythm.

Tuesday morning, she showed everyone why.

Hollermann erupted for a robust 25 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists as the U.S. women defeated France, 57-25, improving to 2-2, at the 2018 IWBF World Championships. Lindsey Zurburgg of Portland, Oregon has emerged as a consistent secondary scoring option for the U.S. throughout this tournament, scoring 15 points in this one.

Coming off back-to-back losses, the United States used strong second and fourth quarters to outscore the French 34-10. The Americans used their superior athleticism to limit the French to 18 percent shooting and owned the interior with a 46-33 rebounding advantage.

Zurbrugg was the lone bright spot for the U.S. early on, scoring seven of the team’s 9 points in the first quarter. Most of her looks came off dimes from Morgan Wood of Gordonsville, Tennessee, who recorded a team-high nine assists. The Americans led 9-4 at the end of one.

Hollermann made her impact felt in second quarter. She carved her way through the French defense, patiently getting into the paint and picking her spots as she logged 10 points, five rebounds and two assists. The U.S. went into a zone defense, and that stymied the French’s inside game. France did not score until there was 1:43 left in the quarter, and went into halftime down 23-9.

The third quarter saw more Hollermann brilliance, as she put up nine more points against the reeling French defense. Fellow U.S. Paralympic gold medalist Abby Dunkin of New Braunfels,Texas pitched in with a couple of baskets to help stretch the lead to 57-25 by the end of the quarter.

By the start of the final period, the game was out of reach. Every player for the U.S. saw quality playing time and the bench did not let up, growing the final margin of victory to 32 points. Even with Hollermann dominating the scoring, the team passed the ball efficiently with 22 assists on 25 made shots.

The U.S. women sit at 2-2 in pool play with their final preliminary game coming Wednesday against Argentina at 4 a.m. Eastern. Team USA has never faced Argentina in the World Championships.

NWBA Hall of Famer Trooper Johnson of San Lorenzo, California is head coach of the U.S. Women’s Team, and his assistant coaches are Amy Spangler of Madison Wisconsin, and Adam Kramer of Northport, Alabama. Kearstin Gehlhausen of Denver, Colorado serves as the Team Leader, with Karla Franconi of Lexington, Kentucky, filling the athletic trainer position.

The U.S. has returned home with a medal from every World Championships, except for the 2014 World Championships, since its inception in 1990, accumulating two gold medals and four silver medals. USA has played for the gold medal in six of the last seven IWBF World Championships.

2018 IWBF World Championships

Hamburg, Germany

August 16 - 26, 2018

2018 IWBF World Championships Results

USA def. Algeria, 75-38 (1-0)

Germany def. USA, 70-54 (1-1)

China def. USA, 74 - 43 (1-2)

USA def. France, 57-25 (2-2)

U.S. Women’s Schedule for 2018 IWBF World Championships

8/17 vs Algeria 11:30 AM (Eastern/New York)

8/19 vs Germany 6:45 AM

8/20 vs China 12:00 PM

8/21 vs France 10:15 AM

8/22 vs Argentina 4:00 AM

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The U.S. women play their fourth game of pool play in the IWBF Championships against France today at 8:00 AM, EST. Stay here to watch the game, get live stats and post-game recaps!

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