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olympic dream nearly dead for canadian women's basketball team
defensive lapses, poor finishing inside make late comeback attempt moot
aug 1 2024
3 minute read
canada's kayla alexander, australia's alanna smith, tess madgen and ezi magbegor fight for the ball in the women's group b basketball match between australia and canada on aug. 1.
thomas coex/afp via getty images
canada was better in game 2 of the women’s olympic basketball tournament, but not good enough. as a result of thursday’s 70-65 loss to australia that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated, the team is on the ropes and might not get through to the quarterfinals.
wnba star bridget carleton was the only canadian not way off offensively. carleton scored 19 points, hit five of her team’s seven three-pointers in the game, while kia nurse went 3-for-14 and the canadian bench combined to go 3-for-15.
sami whitcomb led australia with 19, three others scored 11 and australia shot 47.5 per cent from the floor, often easily breaking down canada’s initial line of defence. australia, ranked no. 3 in the world to canada’s no. 5, got in some foul trouble, but canada couldn’t take advantage. canada shot just 16-for-24 from the free throw line (australia only had eight attempts and made six), including just 7-for-13 from the line in the second half.
canada was coming off a horrific performance against host france. dropping to 0-2 in pool play leaves canada on the ropes — again. the team only barely made it to the tournament, going 1-2 in qualifying only to see spain stage a huge comeback against hungary to win by a point to squeak into the olympics.
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canada could still advance because france blew out nigeria 75-54 later thursday. a canada win over nigeria on sunday would likely do the trick, but the team has clearly underperformed both in the qualifying tournament and now in france. it’s disappointing, considering canada was coming off a stirring fourth-place finish at the most recent fiba world cup.
australia (1-1) fell down 5-0 early, but led for most of the game.
canada’s aaliyah edwards goes to the basket past australia’s cayla george (l) in the basketball match between australia and canada during the 2024 olympic games on aug. 1.
thomas coex/afp via getty images
the only bright spot for canada might have been whittling the australia lead from 12 with under two minutes to go in the game, down to the five-point final.
“in a tournament like this, points matter,” veteran forward natalie achonwa told reporters in lille. “and so we were going to, regardless of whether it was a win or loss, we knew we had to keep it close. so that’s what we did. we weren’t going to quit. we went from 12 points to five points. so it’s a point spread when it gets close to it. so i’m just glad that we locked in, and we were really aware of that the whole time.”
achonwa, the only canadian to play at four olympics, missed four of the free throws and said it was frustrating. “i’m better than that, but there’s other ways that i know i contributed to the game and it’s not points. so i know i had to come in that moment and show some resilience and show some leadership, and i did that defensively and i did that by getting my teammates open on offence as well,” achonwa said.
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canada head coach victor lapena said the team didn’t perform defensively the way he wanted them to. that said, this group is bridging the gap between the veterans who have led the way for so long, and the next wave which is expected to peak in 2028 and 2032. lapena discussed that after the game. “some young players played good minutes. we are building the future of this program and the veterans were able to come back to the game and to lead the last minutes and still be alive in this tournament. and for that reason i’m very, very proud of them,” lapena said.
“this is basketball. defeat is part of the job. two years ago we were amazing. everybody talked about us, we were the best team in the tournament. and now we are not in that situation. we have to fight until the last minute,” lapena said.
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