Canadian women defend crown
It was a decision made out of desire rather than necessity, and an alteration in a style of play aimed at taking advantage of another wave of young basketball talent ready to make its mark on the world.
And to suggest that head coach Lisa Thomaidis hit on a winning and seamless transition for Canada’s senior women’s team is one of the great understatements of basketball’s recent history in the country.
A team infused with youth, athleticism and speed — while also guided by seasoned veterans who relish a chance to continue their march up the global rankings — is off to its fourth straight world championship tournament after a romp through the FIBA Americas AmeriCup tournament in Buenos Aires.
Holding off their toughest opponent in a hostile environment, Canada beat host Argentina 67-65 Sunday night to win their second gold medal in a row at the continental championship.
A Kia Nurse basket with about 90 seconds left and some excellent oneon-one defence by Katherine Plouffe defending a smaller quicker guard in the final 30 seconds led Canada to its sixth straight win in the tournament.
“We still don’t really know where our ceiling is going to be, but I’ve been really pleased with the improvement over the course of the tournament,” Thomaidis, the team’s head coach since 2013, said in a telephone interview Sunday morning. “I mean the athleticism and speed is just another dimension, it’s awesome to have. It’s really been impactful at this tournament.”
There are six players back from the 2016 Rio Olympics squad — guards Nirra Fields of Montreal, Miah-Marie Langlois from Windsor and Hamilton’s Nurse, plus forward/centres Miranda Ayim of London and Edmonton sisters Michelle and Katharine Plouffe to provide a much-needed level of experience.
But the half-dozen newcomers — guards Shay Colley of Brampton; Jamie Scott of Clarkson, Wash.; Laura Dally of Brights Grove, Ont.; Toronto’s Sammi Hill; Bridget Carleton of Chatham and centre Ruth Hamblin of Houston, B.C. — have given this Canadian team a new style.
It’s a bit faster with more defensive pressure, the ability to switch defensively or recover quickly. It’s fun, the coaches and players agree.
“For other team’s guards to not be able to get by us, for us to be able to run and play at the tempo we’ve been playing at, faster than other teams, is a great sign of how we can play and what’s going be sort of our hallmark going forward,” Thomaidis said.
“It didn’t take long for (the veterans) to be fully on board when you see the athletes that we have in our pool. I think most players like to play fast in a quote-unquote exciting rungun style of play. Certainly heading in that direction was seen as a positive.”
Ayim, a 29-year-old two-time Olympian, realized that the new style best suited a handful of newcomers.
“We have a lot of new players and a lot of young athletic players, so we (use) their game to complement the way we play, and I think it’s working out for us,” she said.
Qualifying for the World Cup is certainly nothing new for the women’s team, which will be making its fourth straight appearance in the global championship next summer in Spain. Canada finished 12th in 2006 in Brazil, 10th in 2010 in Czech Republic and fifth in 2014 in Turkey, a steady rise through the international game that had them ranked sixth by FIBA heading into the 2017 continental championships.
The rosters could be buoyed next year by the return of Olympians Natalie Achonwa of Guelph and Toronto’s Nayo Raincock-Akunwe, who missed this summer playing the WNBA, and Kim Gaucher of Mission, B.C., who took 2017 off.