Canadian hoopsters living perfect storm en route to Rio

Canada’s women’s basketball team is surging and the momentum has propelled it not just down the road to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but into the national consciousness.

Canada capped an undefeated summer on home court Sunday by defeating Cuba 82- 66 to win the FIBA Americas Women’s Championship and clinch that all- important Olympic berth one year before the Games.

As a sellout crowd of 2,600 at the Saville Community Sports Centre chanted: “Rio! Rio! Rio!” with the seconds ticking off, the players struggled to contain their emotions as they fulfilled their three- year mission.

“I started crying,” said team captain Kim Gaucher, who reconsidered her plan to retire following Canada’s eighth- place finish at the London Games to take one more shot at an Olympic medal. “I was like, ‘ Oh, keep it together, there are still 90 seconds left.’

The victory on Sunday ran Canada’s record to a spotless 6- 0 at the Olympic qualifying tournament and to 11- 0 on home court when you factor in their 5- 0 wonlost mark en route to a gold medal at the Pan American Games in Toronto in July.

Team Canada truly is living a perfect storm, many of the components of a winning team meshing seamlessly in the run- up to the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Their charismatic star, guard Kia Nurse, who scored 20 points to lead Canada, is just 19. She is still polishing her game at the University of Connecticut, and she’s only going to improve. The same is true for power forward Natalie Achonwa, 22, who was the youngest player for Canada at the 2012 Olympics, and now a WNBA star with the Indiana Fever.

Others like Nirra Fields ( 21), Miah- Marie Langlois ( 22) and Nayo Raincock- Ekunwe ( 23) are just starting their senior international careers, really.

The players all have bought into head coach Lisa Thomaidis’ offensive system in which everybody plays, everybody passes, everybody runs and everybody scores.

“This is the best team I’ve ever been a part of, hands down,” Thomaidis said. “The talent, the character, the depth, the experience, the buy- in, the intelligence — everything ranks at the top of the list.”

With youth factored into that matrix, this team, as it grows and evolves, could be on a trajectory that extends well past Rio de Janeiro to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and beyond.