A day after trouncing the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada’s girls’s basketball workforce confronted a stiff problem in Brazil – precisely the kind of recreation head coach Lisa Thomaidis says her workforce wants simply six weeks earlier than the Tokyo Olympics tip off.
Nirra Fields scored 17 factors, whereas Kayla Alexander had 11 factors and 7 rebounds because the Canadians held on to edge Brazil 71-67 on Sunday and enhance to 2-0 on the FIBA AmeriCup, their first match in additional than a yr.
“That was such an amazing recreation for us, to problem ourselves in opposition to a tricky Brazil workforce,” Thomaidis stated. “I believed they did an amazing job taking us out of our issues, it actually compelled us to get to a Plan B and we’re not at that place proper now the place we’re seamless, the place they take away our first possibility we will get into our second one.
Clarissa Dos Santos had 25 factors to steer Fifteenth-ranked Brazil.
The Canadians had opened the match with a 101-41 rout of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada’s first recreation collectively since they clinched a Tokyo Olympic berth in February of 2020.
WATCH | Nirra Fields leads Canada to shut win over Brazil in AmeriCup motion:
Nirra Fields had a team-high 17 factors, together with an enormous three late, as Canada beat Brazil 71-67 on the FIBA girls’s Americup. 1:13
“I really feel simply excited and joyful to be again as a gaggle,” stated Alexander, a 6-4 ahead from Milton, Ont. “It has been so lengthy since we have been in a position to be on the court docket collectively, competing with one different, so I believe there’s numerous pleasure and pleasure there . . . Additionally simply excited concerning the studying and the rising all through these video games. We’re not the place we wish to be but however I believe we’re constantly constructing to get to that time.”
Sunday, the 2 undefeated groups performed to a 21-21 tie to finish the primary quarter. Canada began to tug away and took a 45-37 lead into the halftime break, however Brazil rallied to tie it up late within the third and led 59-58 with one quarter left.
The Brazilians had cruised by El Salvador and Colombia of their first two video games.
Canada performs El Salvador on Monday and Colombia on Tuesday. The highest two groups from every group advance to the semifinals. The ultimate is Saturday.
The highest 4 groups advance to World Cup qualifying tournaments, Feb. 6-14, 2021. The highest three from every qualifier earn a berth within the World Cup, in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 22-Oct. 1, 2022.
The Canadians are with out WNBA gamers Natalie Achonwa, Kia Nurse and Bridget Carleton who will be part of the workforce in Tokyo.
Following the AmeriCup, the Canadian girls will return to Tampa, Fla., to proceed Olympic preparations. The ladies usually name Edmonton their house base, however could not collect there resulting from COVID-19 protocols and quarantine guidelines, and so are coaching out of the Toronto Raptors momentary house in Tampa.
WATCH | Olympic expectations for Canadian girls’s basketball workforce:
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Vivek Jacob, Jevohn Shepherd, and Meghan McPeak talk about the WNBA’s #WearOrange initiative, Kia Nurse’s emergence with the Phoenix Mercury, and Crew Canada’s lofty expectations heading into the Olympics. 13:07
