Canada's women face huge test against Spain
Battle between Nos. 3 and 4-ranked sides ultimately could decide which advances
It won't actually be for a medal, but this weekend's basketball game between Canada and Spain surely will feel like a massive match.
Canada rallied Wednesday from an Olympics-opening loss against Serbia to pound South Korea 7453, while Spain improved to 2-0 by rallying from a halftime deficit to defeat Serbia.
Bridget Carleton and Natalie Achonwa combined for 32 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists against South Korea and Canada's bigs overwhelmed their opponents. That's going to be tougher to do against Spain, ranked No. 3 in the world, a spot ahead of Canada.
Spain had lost in overtime to Serbia in the quarter-final of a recent major lead-up event, the FIBA EuroBasket, but used its size and outside shooting to gain revenge. Three Spaniards scored at least 17 points, including Alba Torrens, who had 25. Dominant forward Astou Ndour will be a challenge, too, and Maite Cazorla turned the game with five threepoint makes on six attempts (more than the 4.5 treys Canada has averaged as a team through two games, on poor 23.7 per cent shooting).
As happy as Canada was with its return to form against South Korea, everyone involved knows more will be needed against Spain.
“(In transition) we have to be a bit sharper when playing with speed and our decision-making is going to be critical in moving from beating good teams to beating great teams,” head coach Lisa Thomaidis said after the game.
“I said the other day in our team meeting that any win in the Olympics is something to be celebrated, so we're going to take today and we're going to relish the moment,” Achonwa said. “We will enjoy it today, and tomorrow when we start to prepare for Spain, it's a whole different ball game.”
Spain won silver in Rio while Serbia won bronze, but there's a chance Spain — coming off such a high as opposed to the expected win for Canada over South Korea — might be poised for a letdown game.
Canada got off to a great start against South Korea and though it let the lead waver a bit before pulling away in the fourth quarter, that intensity and effort early on could trouble the Spaniards.
“We were building off the momentum we created in the second half of our game against Serbia,” Thomaidis said. “We wanted to bring that forward (against South Korea).
“Our goal is to play 40 minutes of Canada basketball and I thought we got closer to that.”
Canada is a team that always will play well defensively, but the difference between a deep run, potentially even to the medal the program so badly wants after years of knocking on the door, could be all about whether the offence can get on track.
Canada shot just 38.5 per cent from the field, including the 23.7 mark on three-pointers and 69 from the free-throw line, compared to 44/28.6/77.4 work by Spain. Both teams have totalled 82 rebounds, with each side absolutely dominating the offensive glass. The battle of the boards should be fascinating to watch.
Even if many shots aren't dropping, Canada is at least getting a variety of offensive contributors. Four players have averaged at least 10.5 points, with the three top scorers each averaging 12.5. Carleton rallied from a poor opening game with a dominant second, Achonwa looked much better and Kia Nurse has had one solid one and another that wasn't her best. Nirra Fields has been the most consistent, though in limited minutes, through the first two games.
“We do have a team that's filled with talent and different people are going to have to step up on different occasions,” Thomaidis said. “We certainly have our vets who always put in a solid performance, and if we can get a couple extras from players off the bench, that's really important in tournaments like this.”
If Canada can pull off a victory, and assuming Serbia beats South Korea, each would be 2-1, meaning point differential would come into play in terms of placement moving forward. Right now Canada is plus17, Spain plus-19, Serbia minus-11.
... Decision-making is going to be critical in moving from beating good teams to beating great teams.