| Final Standings 1. United States 2. Brazil 3. Argentina 4. Puerto Rico 5. CANADA 6. Venezuela 7. Costa Rica | CANADIANS Shona Thorburn (Hamilton, Ont.) Kaela Chapdelaine (Okotoks, Alta.) Amy Dalton (Harbour Main, Nfld.) Jenine Browne (St. John’s, Nfld.) Devon Campbell (Vancouver, B.C.) Alisa Wulff (Pickering, Ont.) Katie Donovan (Kingston, Ont.) Kim Smith (Mission, B.C.) Yadili Okwumabua (Winnipeg, Man.) Chelsea Aubry (Oshawa, Ont.) Karin Hoogendam (St. Catharines, Ont.) Carolyn Ganes (Saskatoon, Sask.) Christine Stapleton – coach |
| POOL A | USA | ARG | VEN | Record | |||
| United States | —– | 107-70 | 108-40 | (2-0) | |||
| Argentina | 70-107 | —– | 58-57 | (1-1) | |||
| Venezuela | 40-108 | 57-58 | —– | (0-2) | |||
| POOL B | BRA | PUR | CAN | COS | Record | ||
| Brazil | —– | 89-43 | 65-36 | 108-37 | (3-0) | ||
| Puerto Rico | 43-89 | —– | 53-50 | 75-56 | (2-1) | ||
| Canada | 36-65 | 50-53 | —– | 84-46 | (1-2) | ||
| Costa Rica | 37-108 | 56-75 | 46-84 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| Semi | United States 123 Puerto Rico 50 | |
| Semi | Brazil 75 Argentina 55 | |
| 7th | Costa Rica | |
| 5th | Canada 59 Venezuela 52 | |
| Bronze | Argentina 80 Puerto Rico 55 | |
| Final | United States 81 Brazil 50 | |
Coach Christine Stapleton enters the tourney on an optimistic note. “Our team is a strong mix of youth and veterans for such a young age category. Seven of our athletes have at least one international tournament under their belts while for a couple of them it will be their fourth. This new category – young women – is for athletes born January 1, 1982 or later. This squad features the most experience ever for a Canadian team in this age group. I expect a strong showing at this tournament.”
In their opener, Canada dropped a 53-50 decision to Puerto Rico despite 13 points from Kimberly Smith. Yarilis led Puerto Rico with 12. Today the Canadian young women’s basketball team was defeated 53-50 by Puerto Rico in the opening game of the COPABA world qualification tournament in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil. The smaller Puerto Rican squad played most of the game in a full court press retreating back into a zone to cut the Canadians size advantage. This style stifled Canada’s offensive flow and made them hesitant. Canada had a very slow start quickly falling behind 7-0 with only 6:10 gone by in the first quarter. Carolyn Ganes put Canada on the scoreboard finishing a transitional play at the 5:18 mark. Canada scored six points in the final two minutes of the period controlling the offensive boards and was ahead 9-7 and the end of the first. Canada continued to play well in the second quarter and went into the half with a 22-19 advantage. But the third quarter proved to be the back breaker. With 2:42 remaining in the period and the score tied at 32, Puerto Rico went on a 9-2 run giving them an eight-point lead at the end of 30 minutes of play. Shona Thorburn nailed two three-point shots in the first three minutes of the final quarter and at the 7:36 Canada was down 44-40. But the Canadian young women couldn’t make up the difference. “I’m extremely disappointed with tonight’s performance,” said coach Christine Stapleton. “Especially after coming off such a great performance against Brazil on Monday. We played with a lot of hesitation and we need to start playing better offence. We are a better team than we show today. “We came here with the objective to qualify for the world championships and we are still able to do this with strong performances both offensively and defensively in our next two games.” Kim Smith and Thorburn both scored 12 points. Smith also pulled down 15 rebounds to finish with a double-double.
Carolyn Ganes scores 18 as Canada overpowers Costa Rica 84-46. The Canadian squad jumped out early and scored some quick baskets on the overmatched Costa Ricans to begin the game. Carolyn Ganes (Saskatoon, SK)
was free to score inside while Shona Thorburn (was scoring from the outside. At the end of the first quarter, Canada was ahead 27-10. Costa Rica bounced back in the second period but the point difference was
too much too make up. Canada led 39-23 at the half. Ganes led all scorers in the first half with 16 points.
The third quarter was more of the same as the focused Canadians went on a 16-2 run to start the period. The young women’s defence was stingy giving up only nine points. Canada was ahead 59-33 at the end of 30 minutes. Canada held Costa Rica to only two baskets in the first five minutes of the fourth while putting 15 points of their own on the scoreboard. Another run of 25-14, including five three-point shots, put Canada ahead for good. Ganes finished with 18 points and seven boards. Kim Smith continued her domination of the boards that began in the opening game. She recorded a rare back-to-back double-double – today she had 15 points and 13 rebounds. Thorburn and Katie Donovan both finished with 14 points. Thorburn posted a line of 14 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and only one turnover in 28:29 minutes of play. Canada out-rebounded their opponent 54-29. “Today was a great team effort,” said head coach Christine Stapleton. “We played some good defence which took some pressure off the offence. We were able to take more shots and we had a better flow to our game. This game has put us in a better frame of mind to take on Brazil in tomorrow’s game.”
Carolyn Ganes scored 14 as Canada fell 65-36 to Brazil. This loss knocks the team out of contention to qualify for the 2003 world championships. The game began at an even pace with Shona Thorburn (Hamilton, ON) and Kim Smith (Mission, BC) both attacking the basket offensively. The quarter ended 14-13 in Brazil’s favour. But in the second quarter, the home team picked up its defensive intensity and trapping-style defence making it very difficult for the Canadian side to put the ball in the basketball. Canada failed to score in the final 5:47 minutes of the second period. After 20 minutes of action, the score was 29-20 for Brazil. The second half continued in the same pattern as Canada had problems scoring and keeping possession of the ball turning it over 27 times compared to Brazil’s 14 turnovers. In the third period, Brazil continued with their full-court pressure causing Canada to struggle to score in transition. The period ended with Brazil up, 47-29. Carolyn Ganes hit two early baskets to start the fourth. But Brazil’s guards played solid defence and were able to limit Canada’s offensive output. Ganes (Saskatoon, SK) led the Canadian squad with 14 points and four rebounds. Smith and Thorburn each scored seven points and pulled down seven and six rebounds respectively. Katie Donovan finished the game with five points and six boards. “We struggled on offence against Brazil’s pressure defence,” said head coach Christine Stapleton. “We play Venezuela tomorrow and will look to learn from our previous games.”
With a (1-2) record, Canada fails to qualify for either the semis or the 2003 World Championships.
In the battle for fifth place, Canada defeated Venezuela 59-52. Canada struggled against the zone defence that Venezuela began the game with. But they quickly turned the pace to their style and took a 12-10 lead into the second quarter. Venezuela tried to continue their pressure in the next quarter, but Canada was prepared and attacked the defence. Venezuela had difficulty keeping Canada off the free throw line. Canada was up 32-23 at the half. Canada went on a 9-1 run to begin the third and limited Venezuela to only seven points in the quarter. In the fourth quarter, Venezuela came out attacking and went on a 16-2 run to close the gap. The Venezuelan defensive pressure stymied Canada as they had difficulty bringing the ball up the floor. With 51 seconds remaining in the game, Canada only held a one-point lead. But Carolyn Ganes, Kaela Chapdelaine and Shona Thorburn made key free throws in the final 33 seconds to secure the win. Katie Donovan led Canada with 14 points. Ganes finished with 11 points while Smith recorded nine points and 12 boards. Thorburn had eight points and seven rebounds. “It’s disappointing not to qualify for next year’s world championships,” said head coach Christine Stapleton. “We came to this qualifier with six players with international experience and six without. One of the lessons we’ve learned is that you have to come to play every minute of every game. “It was very nice to see Kim Smith have solid performances throughout the entire tournament and displaying great leadership on and off the court.”
Kim Smith is selected to tournament all-star team.