| FINAL STANDINGS 1. United States 2. Brazil 3. Australia 4. Ukraine 5. Russia 6. Cuba 7. Japan 8. Italy 9. China 10. South Korea 11. CANADA 12. Zaire | CANADIANS Andrea Blackwell (Calgary, Alta.) Kelly Boucher (Calgary, Alta.) Jodi Evans (Calgary, Alta.) Karla Karch-Gailus (Vancouver, B.C.) Martina Jerant (Windsor, Ont.) Cynthia Johnston (Calgary, Alta.) Marlelynn Lange-Harris (Port Severn, Ont.) Shawna Molcak (Cardston, Alberta) Dianne Norman (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) Beverly Smith (Salmon Arm, B.C.) Susan Stewart (Mississauga, Ont.) Camille Thompson (Salmon Arm, B.C.) Peter Ennis – coach Mike Hickey – assistant |
| POOL A | BRZ | CAN | CHN | ITA | JPN | RUS | Record | ||
| Brazil | —– | 69-56 | 98-83 | 75-73 | 100-80 | 82-68 | (5-0) | ||
| Russia | 68-82 | 68-49 | 94-78 | 75-70 | 73-63 | —– | (4-1) | ||
| Italy | 73-75 | 59-54 | 62-53 | —– | 66-52 | 70-75 | (3-2) | ||
| Japan | 80-100 | 95-85 | 75-72 | 52-66 | —– | 63-73 | (2-3) | ||
| China | 83-98 | 61-49 | —– | 53-62 | 72-75 | 78-94 | (1-4) | ||
| Canada | 56-69 | —– | 49-61 | 54-59 | 85-95 | 49-68 | (0-5) | ||
| POOL B | AUS | CUB | KOR | UKR | USA | ZAI | Record | ||
| USA | 96-79 | 101-84 | 105-64 | 98-65 | —– | 107-47 | (5-0) | ||
| Ukraine | 54-48 | 87-75 | 67-72 | —– | 65-98 | 81-65 | (3-2) | ||
| Australia | —– | 75-63 | 76-61 | 48-54 | 79-96 | 91-45 | (3-2) | ||
| Cuba | 63-75 | —– | 70-55 | 75-87 | 84-101 | 73-59 | (2-3) | ||
| South Korea | 61-76 | 55-70 | —– | 72-67 | 64-105 | 96-71 | (1-4) | ||
| Zaire | 45-91 | 59-73 | 71-96 | 65-81 | 47-107 | —– | (0-5) | ||
| 9-12th | Korea 88 Canada 79 | |
| 9-12th | China 91 Zaire 67 | |
| QF | Ukraine 59 Italy 50 | |
| QF | Brazil 101 Cuba 69 | |
| QF | United States 108 Japan 73 | |
| QF | Australia 74 Russia 70 | |
| 5-8th | Russia 80 Japan 69 | |
| 5-8th | Cuba 78 Italy 70 | |
| semi | Brazil 81 Ukraine 60 | |
| semi | United States 93 Australia 71 | |
| 11th | Canada 88 Zaire 46 | |
| 9th | China 85 South Korea 71 | |
| 7th | Japan 81 Italy 69 | |
| 5th | Russia 91 Cuba 74 | |
| Bronze | Australia 55 Ukraine 56 | |
| Final | United States 111 Brazil 87 | |
Heading into Atlanta, Blackwell, Evans, Smith were playing pro ball in Europe. Some questioned the decision to include 36-year-old Smith and 32-year-old Blackwell in the line-up. Lange-Harris had given birth to a baby at the start of the year. Many questioned why Basketball Canada had refused to fund a 10-month Olympic training camp, including head coach Kathy Shields, who quit when the association refused to cough up the money for a camp. She was replaced by Laurentian coach Peter Ennis. “It was really devastating for all the players involved when we didn’t have Shields as coach anymore,” Blackwell told the Globe & Mail. “I think it’s an issue that has to be guarded against in the future. It shouldn’t really happen a couple of years before the Olympics.” The team was selected from an invitation-only camp of 18 held in May. Skeptics questioned whether it had anything in the way of a perimeter shooting punch.
In a rematch of an exhibition game played in Hamilton weeks before the Olympics opened, which had ended in a one-point overtime defeat, the Canadians opened against Brazil, the reigning world champions who’d knocked off the USA 110-107 in the 1994 world competition, and were resoundingly thrashed. Lacking defensive intensity, shooting poorly, playing inconsistently, the team was only in the game for the first six minutes. Trailing 6-2, they rattled off nine points to take an 11-6 lead before ‘Magic’ Maria Paula Silva nailed a three-pointer and set up another jumper to key an 18-4 Brazilian run. The Canadians pulled back to within five near the end of the first half but threw the ball away after a time-out and the Brazilians to an 11-point lead. Trailing by as many as 15, the Canadians were never really in the contest in the second half. The closes they came was nine points. Brazil capitalized on 20 Canadian turnovers, turning over 26 points. “Turnovers hurt us big time,” Ennis said. “You can’t give a team that is that offensively minded so many opportunities.” The outside shooting of Silva and the inside game of Janeth Arcain proved equally dominant, although the great Hortencia Oliva, returning from maternity leave, was held to 10 points. Ennis angrily told reporters that “this is not the tournament in southern Ontario. It’s the Olympics. You’ve got to step it up …and we didn’t do that.” Noting his extreme “disappointment” at being blown out, he that “I thought we started well in the game. We wanted to get a bit of lead on the Brazilian team and we wanted them to play back against us. We started fast, our starting give gave us exactly what we wanted. But once we went into our bench, we lost the flow of the game. We got into an up-and-down game, which we didn’t want” and shot the ball way too quickly. Blackwell said the team couldn’t find its rhythm. “I think offensively we made some mistakes and defensively we broke down a little bit. Normally defence is our bunker. They only had 69 points for the whole game but you can’t let teams go on 18-4 runs.” Blackwell led Canada with 11 points on 5-5 from the floor. Bev Smith added 8, (along with 7 boards), Shawna Molcak 8, Jodi Evans 8, Cynthia Johnston 8, Dianne Norman 7, Marlelynn Lange-Harris 4 and Karla Karch-Gailus 2. Canada shot 18-48 from the floor, 2-11 from the arc and 14-18 from the line, while garnering 13 assists, 8 steals, 20 turnovers, 36 boards and 20 fouls. Janeth Dos Santos Arcain and Maria Paula Goncalves Da Silva each scored 17 for Brazil. Marta De Souza Sobral added 14, Hortencia de Fatima M. Oliva 10, Leila De Souza Sobral 6, Alessandra Olivieira 3 and Maria Angelica G. Silva 2, while Adriana Aparecida Dos Santos, Roseli do Carmo Gustavo, Silvia Andrea Santos Luz, Cintia Silva Dos Santos and Claudia Maria Pastor were scoreless. Brazil shot 21.49 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc and 15-25 from the line, while garnering 15 assists, 10 steals, 16 turnovers, 31 rebounds and 15 fouls.
Canada then dropped a 59-54 decision to Italy despite leading 34-24 at the half. The Canadian came out angry after their opening round loss to Brazil and for the first half of their contest against Italy, looked like world-beaters, dominating the Italians inside, hitting the outside jumper and pressing the Italian guards all the way up the floor. Led by Evans and Smith, the scrappy in-your-face game led to a 34-24 halftime lead. But in the second half, the Canadians folded faster than the timidest gambler in a high stakes game of stud poker. The shaky Italian guards went entirely unmolested. Shots went entirely uncontested. On offence, hot shooter Shawna Molcak couldn’t get the ball. Fullin and Ballabio, finding themselves with a whole lot more room to operate, got hot. Like blushing schoolgirls, the Canadians fumbled the ball time and time again. Outplayed and outhustled, the turnovers soon mounted and the shots stopped falling. They scored a scant basket in the first eight minutes of the second half. Italy took the lead for good with five minutes to go in the game and finished with a 14-6 run. “We had a pretty good game plan,” Ennis said. “We stayed with it as long as the personnel remembered what they hell they were supposed to be doing. …We changed our game (in the second half). It didn’t make any sense. …It’s hard to account for; it’s like two different teams.” Smith later said that because of the 10-point halftime cushion, “we felt we had some time, we felt we had some points to give.” Smith gave credit to the Italians for being “money players …if you give them an inch, they’ll take the three-pointer and hit them.” Evans noted that the team “gave” the game to the Italians. “We just stopped attacking them. We didn’t do any of the things we had working for us in the first half. …It’s frustrating to turn up at a big tournament and not play the way we’re capable of.” Once again, the Canadians proved incapable of generating a consistent offence, scoring a scant 20 points in the second half. The Italians said they were inspired a game for team doctor Roberto Grillo had broken his leg falling off a train just before a pregame meeting. Viviana Ballabio and Mara Fullin each scored 15 for Italy. V. Gardellin added 8, Lorenze Arnetoli 6, Nicoleta Casilin 5, Susan Bonfiglio 4, Catarina Pollini 4, Giuseppina Tufano 1 and Novella Schiesaro 1. Italy shot 11-33 from the line, 8-13 from the arc and 13-18 from the line, while garnering 10 assists, 6 steals, 16 turnovers and 15 rebounds. Bev Smith led Canada with 13 points on 5-5 from the floor and 7 boards. Shawna Molcak added 12 points, Kelly Boucher 10, Cynthia Johnston 7, Diane Norman 4, Andrea Blackwell 4, Karla Karch-Gailus 2 and Camille Thompson 2. Canada shot 20-39 from the floor, 0-7 from the arc and 14-15 from the line, while collecting 15 assists, 6 steals, 25 turnovers and 33 rebounds. Jodi Evans and Norman each nabbed 6 boards.
Facing an absolute must-win situation if they were to qualify for the medal round, the Canadians looked pathetic against 0-2 China and dropped a 61-49 decision. China led 28-25 at the half. China was paced by 6-8, 220-lb centre Zheng Hai-Xin, who scored 19 on 7-13 from the floor, 5-8 from the line and 16 boards. Jun Liu added 12, Xin Li 9, Dongmei Li 6, Xin Liang 4, Zongqing Ma 3, Li Shen 3, Dongmei Zheng 3 and Jun He 2. Bev Smith, Shawna Molcak and Diane Norman each scored 8 for Canada. Norman added 9 boards. Andrea Blackwell scored 6, Cynthia Johnston 4 (and 8 boards), Karla Karch-Gailus 4, Kelly Boucher 4, Susan Stewart 3, Jodi Evans 2 and Camille Thompson 2,
Canada was then drubbed 68-49 by Russia, after trailing 35-29 at the half. The Canadians had beaten Russia in pre-Olympic competition but were no match in Atlanta. Evgeniya Nikonova led Russian with 18 points on 4-8 from the floor and 4-6 from the line. Elena Baranova added 16 points and 11 boards, Elena Shakirova 14 points and 9 boards, along with 8-10 from the line. Yelna Pshikova scored 10, Natalia Svinoukhova 5, Irina Sumnikova 4 and Irina Rutkovskaia 1, while Ludmila Konovalova, Maria Stepanova, Svetlana Kouznetsova, Elena Kuz’mina and Svetlana Antipova (Zaboloueva) were scoreless. Dianne Norman led Canada with 15 points on 5-14 from the line and 8 boards. Cynthia Johnson added 7 points and 7 boards. Jodi Evans added 6, Shawna Molcak 4, Kelly Boucher 4, Andrea Blackwell 4, Karla Karch-Gailus 3, Beverly Smith 2, Susan Stewart 2 and Martina Jerant 2.
Canada closed out round-robin play by dropping a 95-85 overtime decision to Japan. The Canadians led 45-41 at the half and the teams were tied at 86 in regulation play. Mikiko Hagiwara scored 9 of her 26 points in overtime as Japan advanced to the quarterfinals. Canada had to beat Japan by 22 to qualify for the winner’s bracket. The Canadians took a 68-57 lead with 8:32 to play on a 3-pointer by Beverly Smith. But Japan went on a 10-0 run over the next 3:34 to get within one point. A 3-pointer by Hagiwara sent the game into overtime. She then started the overtime with a 3-pointer and Japan was almost perfect during the extra period, making three of four shots from the field and going 10-for-11 from the foul line. Canada committed consecutive turnovers after pulling within three points with 1:52 left and Japan pulled away. Canada was outscored 19-9 in overtime. Hagiwara finished 4-for-7 from 3-point range and Japan was 12-for-24 from beyond the arc. Almost all of Japan’s 3-point attempts came on its unique shooting style – two-hand set shots off one leg. Chikako Murakami added 20 points for Japan, while Aki Ichijo had 16, Takako Kato 14, Taeko Oyama 13, Mayumi Kawasaki 5 and Noriko Hamaguchi 1. Ichijo and Oyama each had four 3-pointers. Japan shot 16-40 from the floor and 27-31 from the line, while garnering 23 assists, 8 steals, 14 turnovers, 26 boards and 27 fouls. Martina Jerant led Canada with 15 points, while Smith and Merlelynn Lange-Harris each had 14, and Diane Norman 12, along with 10 boards. Cynthia Johnston scored 8, Jodi Evans 7, Kelly Boucher 4, Karla Karch-Gailus 4, Shawna Molcak 4 and Andrea Blackwell 2. Canada shot 29-53 from the floor, 3-9 from the arc and 18-30 from the line, while garnering 18 assists, 10 steals, 22 turnovers, 39 boards and 27 fouls. A disconsolate Evans was at a loss to explain Canada’s poor performance at the games. “I have too many questions myself. I’m not entirely sure what team Canada brought to the Olympics …but it isn’t the same team we had three weeks ago. It’s because I do not feel the teams in our pool are better than us. I really believe we could beat anyone. There have been times during my nine years on the team when I have felt like we were banging into a brick wall and we were in over our heads. I haven’t felt that way with this team and I have not felt that way with this tournament. … People were turning down shots they normally don’t think twice about, missing shots which are normally gold and making errors they probably haven’t made since high school. …I didn’t expect to be playing for a Toilet Bowl. You don’t even care at this point. The dream has been shattered.” Bev Smith was also puzzled. “It’s more or less a sensation of something that’s not right, something that you can’t really put a finger on and point to. We seem to be without the important mix of individual creativity within our team offences and, as teams have stepped up their defensive intensity, we have failed to adjust and play accordingly.”
Canada dropped to the 9-12th consolations and promptly fell 88-79 to Korea, despite leading 41-37 at the half. Canada frittered away a 10-point lead with 10 minutes to play. “Again, we shot ourselves in the foot,” said Jodi Evans, noting that she would never have imagined Canada would be playing for last place. “We are in the worst possible scenario. If someone would have told me this two weeks ago, I would never have believed them.” The squad had played dreadful in the tourney. Coach Peter Ennis didn’t change a player from the Olympic qualifying tournament but they averaged just 24.8 ppg in the second half and 20.4 turnovers per game. “We made mistakes no high school team would make. It’s disappointing,” said Ennis. The repercussions to be felt for some time. Government funding is tied to top eight placing in world, which would have been guaranteed had Canada won two preliminary round games. Joo-Weon Chu led Korea with 31 points on 7-8 from the floor, 3-8 from the arc and 8-9 from the line, while handing out 9 assists. Sun-Min Jung added 22 points on 9-14 from the floor. Hyun-Sun Han scored 7, Eun-Sook Chun 7, Ji-Yoon Kim 5, Eun-Soon Chung 2 and Eun-Jeong Kwun 2. Korea shot 5-20 from the arc and 21-26 from the line, while grabbing 20 boards and committing 26 fouls. Diane Norman led Canada with 17 points on 6-10 from the floor and 5-7 from the line, while grabbing 8 boards. Martina Jerant scored 14 on 5-9 from the floor and Andrea Blackwell notched 10 on 4-8 from the floor. Bev Smith scored 8, Shawna Molcak 7, Jodi Evans 6, Karla Karch-Gailus 5, Susan Stewart 4, Cynthia Johnston 4, Marilynn Lange-Harris 2 and Camille Thompson 2. Canada shot 3-9 from the arc and 22-27 from the line, while garnering 36 boards and 22 fouls.
Canada managed to avoid a last-place finish by dumping lowly Zaire 88-46 to register its first victory in the competition. Canada opened with a 15-0 run and never looked back. Diane Norman scored 10 as Canada extended their lead to 21-2. They extended that margin as many as 34 and led 52-20 at the half. Canada led by as many as 47 in the second half. Zaire, which was making its debut in the Olympic tourney, was sponsored by 7-2 NBA centre Dikembe Mutombo, who paid for their uniforms. Bev Smith led Canada with 21 points on 7-10 from the floor. Diane Norman added 20 on 10-12 from the floor, while grabbing 10 boards. Andrea Blackwell scored 11, Jodi Evans 7, along with 8 boards, Susan Stewart 7, Karla Karch-Gailus 6, Cynthia Johnston 6, Camille Thompson 4, Martina Jerant 3, Merlelynn Lange-Harris 2 and Shawna Molcak 1. Canada shot 32-52 (.540) from the floor, 1-9 from the arc and 21-28 from the line, while garnering 22 assists, 14 steals, 16 turnovers, 40 boards and 23 fouls. Lukengu Ngalula led Zaire with 12 points on 3-10 from the floor and 3-4 from the line. Muene Tshijuka added 11, along with 9 boards, Daunai Lobela 10 along with 8 boards, Kasala Kamanga 5, Mabika Mwadi 2 on 1-14 from the field, Kakengwa Pikinini 2, Zaina Kapepula 2 and Mukendi Mbyui 2. Zaire shot 15-55 from the floor, 2-13 from the arc and 10-24 from the line, while garnering 5 assists, 7 steals, 25 turnovers, 40 boards and 24 fouls.
Despite the win, the mood was hardly celebratory. “We’re not really anywhere,” said Jodi Evans. “It’s disgusting how we’ve done.” Smith said the poor start set the tone. “I think we began to doubt ourselves early. I think the team lacked a little bit of a floor leader here and I take a lot of that responsibility. We didn’t have someone we could go to in a moment of crisis and that hurt us. It’s not a criticism or anything, we just didn’t find that player.” Ennis said the squad’s second-half collapses were inexplicable. “It was horribly frustrating. I didn’t feel at any point in the first three or four games we couldn’t win those games. We started well, then people caught up, and we kind of faded. Things worked well for 34 minutes. When we were up close or fought back, there were little breakdowns, substitutions or mental things, and it became an urgency and we strayed from our plan.” Ennis added that Canada had to stop playing “Canadian basketball. … A kind of conservative basketball we’ve played for years. We’ve always been known for great blue-collar teams that play great defence” but most become more aggressive and not “be so damn polite.” Canada also needs “a bigger pool of younger players to push the veteran players on the team, so the veterans are looking over their shoulders. There hasn’t been much pressure from below of young players coming into training camp and saying, ‘I don’t care who you are, I want your spot on the team.’ And if a player can just walk into camp and know you’re on the team, that’s not good. We’ve got to find the young players and give them a goal. They don’t know what to aspire to. If you talk about the national team, most of them don’t know about it.” As for the question of a year-round training camp, the cost of which had been pegged at about $4-million, Ennis said ““I’m not sold on the whole-year thing. But in an Olympic year you better have the team together for more than 2.5 months. That’s way too short. I don’t think you need 12, mainly because of the girl’s situation (playing in Europe). But at Christmas it would have been nice to have them back for three weeks. It’s not hockey, and even hockey has changed. We can’t just pull these people together for a couple of months and then say, ‘where’s your medal?”
The bronze medal match was later officiated by Canada’s Janice Deakin, who was born in Smith Falls, Ont., one of only two female referees in the women’s Olympic tournament. The Queen’s U. associate professor in the school of physical and health education played for the Golden Gaels in the 1970s before becoming a ref. Heading into the Games, Deakin said “it’s a thrill of a lifetime. I’m setting foot into the Olympic tradition and being part of the whole history of sport.” She received her international basketball referee’s license in 1991, the only woman in Canada to do so.
In post-Atlanta environment, national women’s team head coach Peter Ennis dies of leukemia in Jan-97. Ennis was head coach of the Canadian squad which qualified for Atlanta Olympics, the first time Canada had qualified in 12 years. But finished 11th with a dismal 1-6 record. Bev Smith was appointed head coach of the national team in March 97. She was offered a two-year contract. Also short listed where Doc Ryan from ST. FX, Michelle Belanger from U of Toronto and Claire Mitton from U of New Brunswick. Smith, a former national team player, was coaching a division 2 team in Italy when she was appointed national team head coach.