Canadians roar back to beat Serbia

Win pushes record to 2-0

There was so much about Canada’s stirring comeback against Serbia that bodes well for the rest of this Olympic women’s basketball tournament.

The Canadians trailed by as much as 18 points in the second half on Monday at the Youth Arena in Deodoro, before storming back to beat a strong opponent 71-67 and improve to 2-0 in the Olympics.

It was a win that showed character and an ability to deal with adversity, while also improving Canada’s chances of drawing a favourable quarter-final opponent after the round robin.

“Regardless of anything with respect to the Olympics, to beat the European champions from last year is massive,” Canadian coach Lisa Thomaidis said.

“Throw in the fact we did it at the Olympic Games and it’s huge for us. I’m really proud of this team.”

Hamilton’s Kia Nurse led all players with 25 points and added a huge assist late in the game, drawing attention to herself before setting up Miah-Marie Langlois for a game-clinching three-pointer.

Canada trailed for the majority of the game, including by 10 points at the half and by 12 after three quarters. The Canadians were not strong enough defensively in the first half — owing to what Thomaidis described as Serbia’s “unorthodox style” — but made adjustments midway through the third quarter that paid dividends.

“It was just a complete team effort and after the first half we just sat down and said ‘Let’s get it done on the defensive end,’ ” the 20-year-old Nurse said. “That’s what we did. We came down with some boards, got out in transition and made them run and we executed extremely well in the second half.”

Canada faces Senegal on Wednesday, the United States on Friday and Spain on Sunday. The win over Serbia means Canada is likely to finish no worse than third in its pool.