Canada goes cold in the quarters
Spain goes on 21-0 run to open fourth quarter and end medal hopes for young Canadian team
It is almost impossible to comprehend what happened to Canada at the world basketball championship, a shocking stretch of offensive inefficiency that left the women’s senior team still one giant step from the medal podium.
Canada was held to three points in the entire fourth quarter – giving up a 21-0 run to start the decisive period as their dream of winning a medal for the first time since 1986 was dashed in Tenerife, Spain, on Friday.
The host Spaniards, trailing by three heading into the fourth quarter, held Canada without a field goal for more than nine minutes to beat the Canadians 68-53 in the quarterfinals of the women’s World Cup.
Spain will now advance to play Australia in Saturday’s semifinal while Canada plays China to start a weekend series to determine fifth through eighth places.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed with the result,” veteran forward Kim Gaucher said after the game. “But we gave it everything we could, left it all on the table, and at the end of the day, we have to make shots and we just didn’t. Now we turn the table and focus on getting a top-five finish here.”
The stunning fourth quarter came out of nowhere, which makes it even more inexplicable. Canada’s offence wasn’t perfect through the first three quarters but it was good enough to provide them a 50-47 lead going into the last 10 minutes.
The next point Canada scored came on a Shay Colley free throw with 1:44 left and Spain leading 66-50.
“I think they were very concerned about our speed and athleticism, and they were starting to really pack the paint,” coach Lisa Thomaidis said.
“So we weren’t getting to the rim, we stopped making shots. We got in kind of deep and they took care of our kick-outs and kind of exploited us a little bit that way. We’re still young, this team has really improved at a rapid rate, but in the grand scheme of things we’re still pretty young.”
Canada’s only basket of the quarter was a Miranda Ayim bucket with eight seconds left.
“I said we can be disappointed with the result but not with the effort,” Thomaidis said.
“This team fought like crazy, did the things we needed to do, the difference was we just couldn’t make enough baskets tonight. We battled on the boards, we did a good job on their key players, (the Spanish) had some rotation players that came in and really hurt us, so credit to their depth.
“There’s a reason why they’re the world’s No. 2.”
Canada, which last won a bronze medal at the 1986 worlds, can match its 2014 fifthplace finish with a pair of weekend wins.
“It won’t be easy to get up for the games but the women face China on Saturday (9 a.m. ET) and either France or Nigeria on Sunday.