Cadettes Fall 84-59 To USA in FIBA Semi-Final

On August 25, 2012, the Canadian U18 Cadettes dropped their FIBA World Championship Semi-Final game to the United States of America by a score of 84-59.

photo courtesy of fiba.com

“We lost to a good basketball team today,” said head coach, Carly Clarke.

The game saw a 11-1 run early by the Canadians to lift them up 13-6 in the First Quarter, but then saw the Americans go on a 16-3 run of their own in the same Quarter to have a 22-16 lead at the end of the opening Quarter. Canada got as close as 32-30 before the Americans again went on a 27-10 run to drive their lead to 59-40 by the end of the Third Quarter. It was this run that proved to be too insurmountable for the Canadians.

Coach Clarke’s squad comitted 31 Turnovers to the Americans 17. The Offensive Rebound numbers showed the Americans with a 38-9 advantage. These stats were pinpointed by the Canadian Head Coach as a major contributor of their downfall.

“I thought we executed well at times, but in the end we turned it over too much and gave up too many offensive rebounds, and their depth wore on us in the second half.”

Standout Kia Nurse continued to produce for her team, logging the most minutes (29) and sharing the lead in production and by scoring 14 points. Fellow starter Emma Wolfram also scored 14 points while the Canadians had a good output from Emily Potter’ 13 points and 6 rebounds. Saicha Grant-Allen had the most rebound by Team Canada with 7 to go along with her 8 points.

Coach Clarke remains positive and satisfied with the chance to in the hunt for a medal.

“We are still very excited for the opportunity to play for a medal tomorrow.”

The Canadians, who were riding high after their dramatic 56-55 victory over Netherlands in the Quarter-Finals, and a four game winning streak going into these Semis, will now look to prepare for their next test. They face Japan, who lost their Semi-Final matchup vs Spain by a score of 91-62, tomorrow in the Bronze Medal game.

Click here for more stories on the Canadians’ run in the Cadette U17 FIBA World Championships