| FINAL STANDINGS 1. United States 2. Cuba 3. Brazil 4. CANADA 5. Venezuela 6. Puerto Rico | CANADIANS Heidi Bauer Andrea Blackwell (Calgary, Alta.) Debbie Huband (Ottawa, Ont.) Toni Kordic (Edmonton, Alta.) Alison Lang (Saskatoon, Sask.) Candy Lohr (Hamilton, Ont.) Tracie McAra (Victoria, B.C.) Anna Pendergast (Kensington, P.E.I.) Lynn Polson (St. Catharines, Ont.) Carole Sealey (Montreal, Que.) Sylvia Sweeney (Montreal, Que.) Wendy Verrechia (Montreal, Que.) Don McCrae – coach Kathy Shields – assistant Pat Boland – manager |
| Round Robin | USA | CUB | BRZ | CAN | VEN | PUR | Record | |
| United States | —– | 100-82 | 107-92 | 87-79 | 113-33 | 112-65 | (5-0) | |
| Cuba | 82-100 | —– | 106-95 | 73-68 | 107-61 | 89-61 | (4-1) | |
| Brazil | 92-107 | 95-106 | —– | 83-81 | 101-61 | 95-66 | (3-2) | |
| Canada | 79-87 | 68-73 | 81-83 | —– | 92-44 | 73-64 | (2-3) | |
| Venezuela | 33-113 | 61-107 | 61-101 | 44-92 | —– | 69-68 | (1-4) | |
| Puerto Rico | 65-112 | 61-89 | 66-95 | 64-73 | 68-69 | —– | (0-5) | |
Canada defeated Puerto Rico 73-64. The game was called with a minute to play and the win awarded to Canada after a fight broke out between Carole Sealey and Puerto Rico’s Damaris Garcia. They traded punches and soon both teams were in a melee. Referee Carlos Presa went to the scorer’s bench to award the game to Canada, when Puerto Rican coaches Modesto Juminez and Roberto Negron got into a bumping match with the official. Presa lost his temper and wanted to get into a boxing match with the coaches when security personnel intervened. Puerto Rico had led 55-45 with 10 minutes to play. Prior to the dustup between Sealy and Garcia, Guelph’s Candy Lohr and Puerto Rico’s Carmen Melindez had got into a shoving match with four minutes to play and were separated by the officials.
Lynette Woodward scored 22 to lead the US past Canada 87-79. Canada closed to within five with just under two minutes to play after trailing by as many as 15 for most of the match but fell just short in their rally. Coach Don McCrae said he was “very disappointed” with the result and blamed the loss on “American hype.” “Against the U.S., our girls believe that new things have to happen,” McCrae said, adding that the Canadians know their foes by name. “If the girls want favorites, they can read movie magazines.” Canada trailed 51-32 at the half after playing totally disorganized ball. “We might have lost that game by 100 if we’d gone on playing the way we played in the first half.” Sylvia Sweeney paced Canada with 29 points. The Americans dominated on defence and fastbreaked the Canadians to death. American post, 6-8 Anne Donovan controlled the boards, while Patty Joe Hedges and Cheryl Miller scored almost at will.
Brazil defeated Canada 83-81. Brazil’s Hortensia Fatima drove from mid-court with seconds to play and blew into the lane for an easy layup to notch the win. “I guess you’re supposed to get beat by individuals,” said coach Don McCrae. “I was happy with our basketball game. I was not happy with the way we could not hold Fatima.” Fatima was benched for most of the second half but returned to the court with three minutes to play and almost single-handedly erased a nine-point Canadian lead. Point guard Paula Gonzalez and Fatima together scored 53, with Gonzalez assisting on most of Fatima’s hoops. The teams were tied at 40 at the half and Canada dominated most of the second frame, despite having starting guard Sylvia Sweeney sidelined with foul trouble with 12 minutes to play. But then Fatima went to work. “They put her up at the top and she just went after it,” said McCrae, whose squad had gone on strike in the summer to overturn his dismissal by Basketball Canada. Alison Lang paced the perimeter-oriented Canadian attack with 18 points. Andrea Blackwell added 18.