WNBA team Houston Comets' guard Janeth Arcain said goodbye to Brazil's national women's basketball team on Tuesday, in the final match at the Pan American Games, in which they ended up with a loss to the US team.
Although the hosts led with a slight advantage in the first three quarters, they did not keep the pace up to the end of the game. The Americans, relying on their U-21 team, culminated at last to mark a final 79-66 score.
The defeat did not prevent the public at Rio's Multipurpose Arena from standing up and applauding Arcain, who finished the match with the ball in her hands. The 38-year-old player left the court in tears.
Janeth dos Santos Arcain belongs to a generation of Brazilian players that reached the highest level ever achieved in the country's women's basketball. They won the Pan Am gold in Havana's Games, in 1991, and the FIBA World Championship in 1994, apart from the Olympic silver in 1996, in Atlanta, USA.
Legendary players like Hortencia Marcari and Paula Goncalves took part in the same group, but retired earlier than Arcain, who also got a bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics for the team. The guard is the second top scorer in the team's history, with an average of 17.6 points per game.
On the WNBA website, Arcain is regarded as "the only player in the Comets history to play in all 220 games," and won a "Most Improved Player of the Year" prize in 2001. She was one of the original players selected in first draft held by the US national association, in 1997.
The Pan Am final on Tuesday also marked the farewell of the Brazilian head coach Antonio Carlos Barbosa, who took over the women's team for the first time in the 1976-1984 period, and returned to the position in 1997.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article