Spain defeats Canada in quarter-final

TENERIFE, SPAIN — The Canadian women’s basketball team simply couldn’t stop the home side’s run in the fourth quarter on Friday.

As a result, Canada fell short of its goal of advancing to the FIBA World Cup semifinals.

Second-ranked Spain, the host team, went on a 19-0 run to open the fourth and beat No. 5-ranked Canada 68-53 in the final quarterfinal. All told, Spain outscored Canada 21-3 in the fourth quarter. Shay Colley’s free throw with 1:44 left finally put Canada on the board.

It was the second quarter-final loss in a row for Canada at the World Cup, which is held every four years. Canada hasn’t advanced to the semis since 1986.

Canada went 3-0 in the opening round to earn a direct berth to the quarters, but drew a tough opponent in Spain, which won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Spain will now face Australia in the semifinals on Saturday.

Canada will face China in a classification game. The best Canada can finish is fifth.

Canadian star Kia Nurse led the team with 15 points against Spain. Colley added 13.

Astou Ndour scored a gamehigh 16 points for Spain.

Canada outscored Spain by five in the third quarter to take a 50-47 lead entering the final frame.

The visitors’ shooting percentage improved to 39 per cent through three quarters, up 13 per cent.

Canada trailed by just two, 29-27, at halftime despite shooting just 26 per cent from the field, compared to Spain’s 39 per cent clip.

Nurse was 1-for-9 from the field in the first half. Colley led Canada with 10 points, on 3-for-3 shooting, in the first half.

While Canada avoided a play-in game by virtue of its perfect record in the opening round, Spain advanced to the quarter-finals with a 63-48 win over Senegal on Wednesday.

Upstart Belgium will face the top-ranked United States in the other semifinal.

Belgium, ranked 28th in the world, hammered France 86-65 in quarter-final play, while the Americans downed Nigeria 71-40.

Australia crushed China 83-42.