Sophie Carrigill proud of team despite quarterfinal loss at Paris 2024

By Milly McEvoy at the Bercy Arena

Sophie Carrigill had only pride in her teammates as ParalympicsGB’s women’s wheelchair basketball team suffered a narrow 59-52 loss to the USA in the quarterfinals.

GB kept within touching distance throughout much of the game but saw the USA build commanding leads at the end of the second and third quarters to make their task harder.

However, with nine minutes of the match remaining GB took the lead before losing their grip in the match in the dying seconds.

“My overriding feeling right now is I’m just really proud of the girls, they work so hard for these moments,” the Wakefield native said.

And we absolutely delivered an amazing game and that is going to hurt for a long time, but you’ve got be ok with that hurting because that is why we play.

“My overriding feeling is I was just really proud of our fight, we had a massive comeback, we were down 10 and went on to lead the game.

“That is just incredible, the USA are a great team and consistent medallists at worlds and Paralympics.

“A strong team and for us to deliver that kind of performance, I am really proud. But it will hurt for a while.”

Jade Atkin made an impact of from the start, scoring the first points of the game, but the rebounds of Becca Murray and Ixhelt Gonzalez were constant threat at both ends of the court.

With the half-time break closing in, the USA scored six straight points to hold a seven-point advantage after the second quarter.

The third quarter saw GB again pull themselves back into the contest, only for captain Murray to help stretch the lead out again for the US with two crucial rebounds.

ParalympicsGB were not done yet with Jade Atkin’s return to the court signalling the beginning of the fight back to close the deficit to just three points at with 10 minutes remaining.

Great Britain then returned to the lead for the first time since the beginning of the match and held a one-point lead as they forced the USA into a shot clock violation.

The two sides traded points and the lead as the clock ticked down before the USA showed their nouse to eke out the narrow win.

Carrigill added: “They are used to those bigger moment games, but we are as well so that is not an excuse.

“It is in those moments that you’ve got deliver and without having watched it back maybe we didn’t and there were probably opportunities where we could have been better and scored potentially.

“But I couldn’t have asked for any more, I am really just proud of the girls and the effort and the fight that we have delivered until the end. We never gave up.”

National Lottery players raise more than £30million a week for Good Causes including vital funding into sport – from grassroots to elite. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk