Hoops team still unbeaten at women's World Cup

Canada's women's basketball team continues to pick up steam at the FIBA World Cup in Sydney, Australia.

Bridget Carleton scored 19 points, while Kayla Alexander grabbed 11 rebounds, and the Canadian women beat Japan 70-56 on Sunday to remain unbeaten and clinch a berth in the quarter-finals.

“That was a big game for us,” Carleton said. “That's a tough team, they're hard to play against, they're fast, they like to shoot the three-ball so it's a tough matchup, but definitely good to come away with the win.

“And it felt good to see some shots go in for me,” she added.

Shay Colley added 13 points and seven rebounds, while Laeticia Amihere finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists for the No. 4 Canadians (3-0). Carleton, a forward for the WNBA'S Minnesota Lynx, also had six rebounds.

Maki Takada scored 11 points to lead eighth-ranked Japan (1-3), the reigning Olympic silver medallists.

The Canadians next face Australia (2-1) on Monday, then wrap up the preliminary round against Mali (03) on Tuesday. Their victory on Sunday will mean avoiding the United States (3-0 in Group A) in the quarters.

Canadian women claimed bronze in the women's eight Sunday at the world rowing championship.

Canada clocked a time of six minutes, 7.59 seconds behind winner Romania in 6:01.14 and runner-up the Netherlands in 6:05.04.

“We wanted to have a race that we would have no regrets and could be proud of every stroke and I think we did that,” said Sydney Payne, who was a member of the crew that won Olympic gold last summer in Tokyo.

Payne, Avalon Wasteneys and coxswain Kristen Kit have earned three medals in the eight over the last year, including Olympic gold, World Cup silver and world championship bronze.

The world championship regatta also marked Kasia Gruchalla-wesierski's return to international competition following Tokyo.

Morgan Rosts, Jessica Sevick, Gabrielle Smith, Kirsten Edwards and Alexis Cronk rounded out Canada's crew.

The women's eight earned Canada's lone medal of the world championship. The men's eight finished fifth.