| FINAL STANDINGS 1. CANADA 2. Argentina 3. Puerto Rico 4. Brazil 5. Virgin Islands 6. Paraguay 7. Colombia 8. Cuba 9. Venezuela 10. Mexico | CANADIANS Miranda Ayim (London, Ont.) Bridget Carleton (Chatham, Ont.) Shay Colley (Brampton, Ont.) Laura Dally (Sarnia, Ont.) Nirra Fields (Montreal, Que.) Ruth Hamblin (Houston, B.C.) Sami Hill (Toronto, Ont.) Miah-Marie Langlois (Windsor, Ont.) Kia Nurse (Hamilton, Ont.) Katherine Plouffe (Edmonton, Alta.) Michelle Plouffe (Edmonton, Alta.) Jamie Scott (Clarkston, Wash.) Lisa Thomaidis – coach Shawnee Harle – assistant Steve Baur – assistant Max Hirst – performance analyst Rhonda Shishkin – therapist Danielle Dobney – therapist Bryce Tully – mental performance coach Marni Wesner – physician Anne Marie Thuss – manager Denise Dignard – director, women’s performance Mike MacKay – performance manager |
| POOL A | ARG | BRZ | VGI | COL | VEN | Record | ||||
| Argentina | —– | 68-49 | 80-48 | 70-47 | 79-59 | (4-0) | ||||
| Brazil | 49-68 | —– | 60-67 | 68-47 | 71-63 | (2-2) | ||||
| Virgin Islands | 48-80 | 67-60 | —– | 63-70 | 79-53 | (2-2) | ||||
| Colombia | 47-70 | 47-68 | 70-63 | —– | 62-59 | (2-2) | ||||
| Venezuela | 59-79 | 63-71 | 53-79 | 59-62 | —– | (0-4) | ||||
| POOL B | CAN | PUR | PAR | CUB | MEX | Record | ||||
| Canada | —– | 79-59 | 86-64 | 81-35 | 65-39 | (4-0) | Record | |||
| Puerto Rico | 59-76 | —– | 81-67 | 70-67 | 69-49 | (3-1) | (4-0) | |||
| Paraguay | 64-86 | 67-81 | —– | 69-66 | 73-67 | (2-2) | (2-2) | |||
| Cuba | 35-81 | 67-70 | 66-69 | —– | 62-51 | (1-3) | (0-4) | |||
| Mexico | 39-65 | 49-69 | 67-73 | 51-62 | —– | (0-4) | (2-2) | |||
| (2-2) |
| Semi | Argentina 48 Puerto Rico 44 | |
| Semi | Canada 84 Brazil 45 | |
| Bronze | Puerto Rico 75 Brazil 68 | |
| Final | Canada 67 Argentina 65 | |
In their opener, Canada thrashed Cuba 81-35 after leading 28-8, 50-18 and 64-24 at the quarters. “Great to get the first game under our belt against a traditionally tough opponent in Cuba,” said Canadian coach Lisa Thomaidis. “There were a lot of question marks coming into the tournament in terms of our style of play and how we would integrate some new players. I think we past [sic] our first test. We worked on pushing the pace and tempo and thought we did a solid job of that in the first quarter and built on that throughout the game. This by no means is Cuba’s best effort and we imagine we will see them again later in the tournament, but certainly happy with the win.” Nirra Fields paced Canada with 18 on 6-9 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 3-6 from the line, 5 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Ruth Hamblin added 15 on 7-10 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 10 boards. Jamie Scott added 12 on 6-6 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc and 2 boards. Katherine Plouffe scored 7 on 3-6 from the floor, 1-2 from the line, 6 boards and 2 steals. Kia Nurse added 6 on 2-5 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 2 boards. Shea Colley notched 6 on 3-5 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 5 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. Michelle Plouffe scored 5 on 2-3 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 6 boards. Miranda Ayim added 4 on 2-4 from the floor, 5 boards and 3 assists. Miah-Marie Langlois added 3 on 0-1 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 8 boards and 4 assists. Laura Dally added 3 on 1-2 from the arc. Sami Hill scored 2 on 1-2 from the floor and 0-1 from the arc, while Bridget Carleton was scoreless and nabbed 2 boards. Canada hit 35-72 (.486) overall, 32-51 (.627) from the floor, 3-21 (.143) from the arc and 8-14 (.571) from the line, while garnering 54 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 18 assists, 19 fouls, 18 turnovers, 9 steals and 2 blocks. Anisleidy Galindo paced Cuba with 12 on 3-8 from the floor, 6-6 from the line and 4 steals. Fransy Ochoa added 5 on 2-9 from the floor, 1-4 from the line and 7 boards. Arlenys Romero scored 5 on 0-2 from the floor, 0-7 from the arc, 5-6 from the line and 2 boards. Ineidis Casanova added 4 on 2-9 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 3 boards and 2 steals. Leidys Oquendo scored 3 on 0-7 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 7 boards. Lisdeyvi Martinez added 2 on 1-5 from the floor. Marlen Cepeda scored 2 on 1-4 from the floor and 3 boards. Yuniesky Bouly added 2 on 1-5 from the floor, 0-2 from the line and 7 boards, while Elianis Armentero, Anay Garcia, Edith Thompson and Dairis Tornell were scoreless. Cuba (coached by Alberto Zabala, assisted by Eduardo Moya) hit 10-65 (.154) overall, 10-53 (.189) from the floor, 0-12 from the arc and 15-22 (.682) from the line, while garnering 40 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 2 assists, 10 fouls, 21 turnovers and 6 steals.
Canada improved to 2-0 by clipping Puerto Rico 75-59 in a somewhat lethargic performance. Canada led 18-12, 38-29 and 57-41 at the quarters. Canadian coach Lisa Thomaidis said “Puerto Rico gave us a lot of problems today. I thought their speed, quickness and ability to attack the rim, finish at the rim and draw fouls posed a lot of problems for our defence. Further to that, our shooting percentage was not where it needs to be successful at this level and so we have to go and have a look at things to see what the issue is there. We’re going to have to be better going forward. We will learn from this and look forward to playing Mexico tomorrow.” Miah-Marie Langlois said “slow start, slow middle, slow end, but we grinded it out. We kept on pushing and we used our grit. It was a grinding kind of game. Puerto Rico came out strong and took a lot of one-on-ones. We have a lot of things to look over in film and just get better from this.” Kia Nurse paced Canada with 17 on 3-9 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 5-7 from the line, 8 boards and 2 steals. Katherine Plouffe added 14 on 407 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 3-3 from the line and 4 boards. Jamie Scott scored 11 on 2-2 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc, 1-1 from the line and 5 boards. Ruth Hamblin added 10 on 3-10 from the floor, 4-4 from the line, 7 boards and 2 blocks. Nirra Fields scored 8 on 3-5 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. Miranda Ayim scored 6 on 3-6 from the floor, 0-2 from the line, 2 boards and 2 assists. Shea Colley added 4 on 2-8 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc and 3 boards. Michelle Plouffe added 3 on 1-5 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 5 boards. Miah-Marie Langlois added 2 on 0-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 3 boards and 3 assists, while Laura Dally, Sami Hill and Bridget Carleton were scoreless. Carleton nabbed 3 boards and Hill 2. Canada hit 26-74 (.351) overall, 21-54 (.389) from the floor, 5-20 (.250) from the arc and 18-24 (.750) from the line, while garnering 55 boards, including 23 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 18 turnovers, 7 steals and 6 blocks. Allison Gibson paced Puerto Rico with 16 on 1-3 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 5-8 from the line and 5 boards. Ashley Perez scored 13 on 4-7 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 2 assists. Ashley Santos added 7 on 2-6 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 3 boards. Michelle Gonzalez scored 7 on 2-8 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 2 boards. Dayshalee Salaman added 7 on 2-5 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc and 2 boards. Pamela Rosado scored 6 on 3-6 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 6 boards and 4 assists. Isalys Quinones added 2 and Tayra Melendez 1, while Angelica Bermudez, Paola Crespo, Marie Placido and Yolanda Jones were scoreless. Puerto Rico (coached by Gerardo Batista, assisted by Daniel Ortiz) hit 22-61 (.361) overall, 15-39 (.385) from the floor, 7-22 (.318) from the arc and 8-12 from the line, while garnering 37 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 9 assists, 20 fouls, 18 turnovers, 6 steals and 6 blocks.
Canada improved to 3-0 in pool play by dusting Mexico 65-39 after leading 15-8, 28-20 and 49-28 at the quarters. Canadian coach Lisa Thomaidis said “thought we had a real sluggish start to the game on the defensive end. We got lazy and didn’t play our typically Canadian hard-nosed defence. We got back to that in the third quarter to extend our lead. It was great to play everyone in this game and see contributions from everyone off the bench and end it on a good note. Now we can go into our day off and get ready for Paraguay in our last pool play game.” Guard Nirra Fields said “overall we responded to adversity really well. The first half wasn’t what we liked it to be, but in the second half we came out, showed character and fought back. Improvements for the next game is to continue to move the ball, work better as a team and have more togetherness.” Nirra Fields paced Canada with 13 on 2-2 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc and 3-4 from the line. Miranda Ayim added 8 on 4-7 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc and 6 boards. Jamie Scott added 8 on 1-2 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc and 3 boards. Ruth Hamblin scored 7 on 2-4 from the floor, 3-4 from the line and 3 boards. Katherine Plouffe scored 6 on 2-7 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 5 boards. Shea Colley scored 6 on 3-5 from the floor, 4 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Miah-Marie Langlois scored 5 on 1-4 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 6 assists. Kia Nurse scored 4 on 0-2 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc and 1-2 from the line. Sami Hill added 3 on 0-1 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc and 3 boards. Michelle Plouffe scored 3 on 1-6 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 4 boards. Laura Dally added 2 on 1-2 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2 boards and 3 assists, while Bridget Carleton was scoreless. Canada hit 24-59 (.407) overall, 17-42 (.405) from the floor, 7-17 (.412) from the arc and 10-14 (.714) from the line, while garnering 37 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 16 assists, 13 fouls, 16 turnovers, 8 steals and 2 blocks. Bianca Torre paced Mexico with 8 on 1-1 from the floor and 2-3 from the arc. Laura Nunez added 6 on 3-6 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc and 7 boards. Daniela Pardo scored 5 on 1-4 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 2 assists and 2 steals. Carmen Saad added 4 on 1-3 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc and 2 steals. Gladiana Avila added 3 on 0-2 from the floor and 1-2 from the arc. Claudia Ramos scored 3 on 0-1 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc and 2 boards. Brisa Silva scored 3 on 0-3 from the floor and 1-2 from the arc. Myriam Lara added 3 on 1-3 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Jacqueline Luna added 2 on 1-3 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 5 boards, 3 steals and 5 blocks. Maria Orozco scored 2 on 1-3 from the floor and 2 boards, while Ingrid Martinez and Sandra Vargas were scoreless. Martinez nabbed 5 boards. Mexico (coached by Javier Ceniceros, assisted by Hector Vildosola) hit 16-50 (.320) overall, 10-34 (.294) from the floor, 6-16 (.375) from the arc and 1-2 from the line, while garnering 29 boards, including 5 on the offensive glass, 7 assists, 11 fouls, 21 turnovers, 9 steals and 7 blocks.
Canada closed out pool play with a 4-0 record by dusting Paraguay 86-64 after leading 26-14, 41-37 and 66-51 at the quarters. “We are still sorting some things out on both ends of the floor. We are making minor gains each game and we have to continue to get better going into the medal rounds. I think our best is still yet to come,” said Canada coach Lisa Thomaidis. Guard Nirra Fields said “honestly I’m just proud of my team. We came out and weren’t great offensively and defensively, but we pushed through. A lot of games aren’t going to go entirely how we planned, so how we responded was the most important.” Nirra Fields paced Canada with 25 on 8-10 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 6-6 from the line, 10 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Katherine Plouffe added 12 on 5-7 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 4 boards. Michelle Plouffe scored 9 on 2-5 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 13 boards and 2 assists. Jamie Scott added 9 on 3-3 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 5 boards and 3 assists. Kia Nurse notched 8 on 3-6 from the floor, 0-7 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 3 assists and 3 steals. Miranda Ayim added 6 on 3-10 from the floor and 11 boards. Shea Colley scored 6 on 3-4 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2 boards and 2 assists. Ruth Hamblin added 6 on 3-3 from the floor and 4 boards. Miah-Marie Langlois scored 3 on 1-2 from the arc and 2 assists. Sami Hill added 2 on 1-3 from the floor and 0-4 from the arc, while Laura Dally and Bridge Carleton were scoreless. Carleton dished 2 assists. Canada hit 35-78 (.449) overall, 31-52 (.596) from the floor, 4-26 (.154) from the arc and 12-13 (.923) from the line, while garnering 58 boards, including 27 on the offensive glass, 19 assists, 19 fouls, 19 turnovers, 10 steals and 6 blocks. Paola Ferrari paced Paraguay with 14 on 3-6 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 2 assists. Maria Mercado added 13 on 1-3 from the floor, 3-9 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 5 boards and 3 assists. Tamara Insfran added 13 on 3-5 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Marta Peralta added 9 on 1-4 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 2 boards and 3 assists. Maria Carves added 9 on 1-6 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc and 1-1 from the line. Astrid Huttemann added 6 on 0-1 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 2 boards and 2 steals, while Ilda Pena, Claudia Aponte, Natalia Quevedo, Melina Perez, Rocio Insfran and Andrea Gomez were scoreless. Paraguay (coached by Juan Pablo Feliu) hit 21-59 (.346) overall, 9-30 (.300) from the floor, 12-29 (.414) from the arc and 10-11 (.909) from the line, while garnering 21 boards, including 5 on the offensive glass, 9 assists, 16 fouls, 20 turnovers, 5 steals and 2 blocks.
Canada finished 4-0 in pool play and advanced to the semi-finals.
In the semis, Canada blasted Brazil 84-45 to qualify for the 2018 World’s women’s championships in Spain. Canada led 24-12, 41-22 and 67-32 at the quarters. Canadian coach Lisa Thomaidis said “we’re really happy to be qualifying for our fourth consecutive world championships and that’s the first and foremost goal coming into these FIBA Americas tournaments. So, to be heading into the final, we’re excited about that. It was fun to watch eight different players hit threes and see our bigs come up with some nice plays. I just thought we played really well as a team. We showed some good improvement from the last game we played and we’ll have to show some more improvement tomorrow in the final. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how we played.” Miranda Ayim said “it was a really fun game to play. I feel like all the work we’ve been doing in the group play all came together tonight and we just need to continue on this road for the game tomorrow.” Kia Nurse led Canada with 16 on 0-3 from the floor, 3-7 from the arc and 7-8 from the line. Nirra Fields added 16 on 4-8 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Miranda Ayim notched 15 on 5-9 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 8 boards. Shea Colley scored 7 on 2-6 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 2 boards and 2 steals. Michelle Plouffe added 7 on 1-1 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards and 4 assists. Miah-Marie Langlois added 5 on 1-2 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 0-1 from the line, 3 boards, 9 assists and 2 steals. Katherine Plouffe added 5 on 2-6 from the floor and 1-3 from the line. Ruth Hamblin scored 4 on 2-8 from the floor and 9 boards. Sami Hill added 3 on 1-2 from the arc. Bridget Carleton scored 3 on 0-1 from the floor and 1-3 from the arc. Jamie Scott added 3 on 1-2 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 7 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals, while Laura Dally was scoreless. Canada hit 2969 (.420) overall, 18-46 (.391) from the floor, 11-23 (.478) from the arc and 15-20 from the line, while garnering 49 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 22 assists, 20 fouls, 14 turnovers, 12 steals and 2 blocks. Isabela Macedo paced Brazil with 14 on 5-10 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 4-4 from the line and 5 boards. Kelly Santos added 11 on 5-11 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 6 boards. Gilmara Justino scored 10 on 4-7 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 5 boards. Raphaella Monteiro Da Silva added 6 on 2-7 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 4 boards. Leticia Rodrigues added 3 on 3-6 from the line and 6 boards. Soeli Zakreski scored 1 on 0-3 from the floor and 1-2 from the line, while Barbara Honorio, Joice Rodrigues, Patricia Teixeira, Jacqueline De Paula, Tatiane Pacheco and Izabela Nicoletti were scoreless. Brazil (coached by Carlos Jose Lima, assisted by Bruno Guidorizzi) hit 16-61 (.262) overall, 16-52 (.308) from the floor, 0-9 from the arc and 13-20 (.650) from the line, while garnering 44 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 19 fouls, 20 turnovers, 6 steals and 2 blocks.
In the final, Canada captured its second consecutive FIBA Americas title by nipping host Argentina 67-65. Kia Nurse hit a critical jumper with 1:27 to play as Canada withstood a furious Argentine rally down the stretch, denying Argentina bucket the remainder of the contest. Nirra Fields iced the win with a free throw with four seconds to play. Argentina led 18-14 after one quarter and 34-27 at the half. Canada led 56-47 after three quarters but Argentina bounced back in the fourth with an 18-8 run to make it 65-64 with less than two minutes to play. Canadian coach Lisa Thomaidis said “this is exactly the kind of game that you dream about, the ones that go back and forth. Neither team has it secured from start to finish and those are the games that you learn so much about yourself and your team when you have an opportunity like this. And to play in an environment like this. You cannot replicate this environment. I’m so proud of our team. We are young, we have a bunch of new players and we really weren’t tested until this game. We were knocked back on our heels at the beginning of the game and we had to regroup and credit to them. We came out in the second half and built a lead and Argentina is a tough team to match up with. They spread us out and can knock down some threes. We got some great contributions from a variety of different players tonight and when it came down to it, we got the stops when we needed it and got some key scores. Just a fabulous win for this program and this team in terms of kicking off the start of this squad and heading forward.” Tournament MVP Nirra Field said “it feels amazing. It’s the second title in a row and we are writing history. The team is feeling great and we are all celebrating. We are happy that we put in a team effort today and got the win.” Thomaidis told the Toronto Star that “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. I mean, the athleticism and speed is just another dimension. It’s awesome to have. It’s really been impactful at this tournament. … For other teams’ 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. 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 run-gun style of play. Certainly, heading in that direction was seen as a positive.” Miranda Ayim added that “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.” Thomaidis added that Canada still must improve to challenge for world medals and “to continue to climb the ranks, but it’s certainly a good first step for us and a good indication of where we need to go.” Kia Nurse paced Canada with 12 on 3-7 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 3 assists. Miranda Ayim added 10 on 3-7 from the floor, 4-4 from the line, 6 boards, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Miah-Marie Langlois added 10 on 2-2 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 3 boards and 4 assists. Ruth Hamblin scored 9 on 4-8 from the floor, 1-1 from the line and 7 boards. Nirra Fields scored 7 on 3-10 from the floor, 1-3 from the line, 6 boards and 2 assists. Katherine Plouffe scored 7 on 2-10 from the floor, 3-4 from the line and 11 boards. Michelle Plouffe added 5 on 1-3 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 6 boards. Shea Colley added 4 on 1-7 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 4 boards. Jaime Scott scored 3 on 0-2 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 3 boards, while Laura Dally, Bridget Carleton and Sami Hill were scoreless. Canada hit 23-66 (.348) overall, 19-56 (.339) from the floor, 4-10 from the arc and 17-22 (.773) from the line, while garnering 52 boards, including 21 on the offensive glass, 14 assists, 21 fouls, 15 turnovers, 5 steals and 5 blocks. Melisa Gretter paced Argentina with 23 on 5-12 from the floor, 3-8 from the arc, 4-6 from the line, 5 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Macarena Rosset added 18 on 5-11 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 5-7 from the line, 5 boards and 3 assists. Deborah Gonzalez scored 11 on 4-9 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 3-3 from the line and 2 boards. Andrea Boquette scored 4 on 2-6 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 4 boards and 2 assists. Agostina Burani added 4 on 2-6 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 5 boards and 2 blocks. Macarena Durso scored 3 on 0-3 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 3 boards and 2 steals. Ornella Sanata scored 2 on 1-3 from the floor and 3 boards, while Maria Marchizotti, Celia Fiorotto, Sofia Aispurua, Julieta Armesto and Natacha Perez were scoreless. Argentina (coached by Christian Santander, assisted by German Intonio) hit 23-67 (.343) overall, 19-49 (.388) from the floor, 4-18 (.222) from the arc and 15-20 from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 20 fouls, 11 turnovers, 6 steals and 4 blocks.
Canada’s Nirra Fields was chosen tournament MVP. Joining her on the all-tournament were Miranda Ayim (Canada); Melisa Gretter (Argentina); Allison Gibson (Puerto Rico); and Paola Ferrari (Paraguay).
Canada, Argentina and Puerto Rico qualified for the 2018 World championships in Spain.