Cadettes Win FIBA World Quarter-Finals 56-55 Over Dutch

On August 24, 2012, the Canadian U17 Cadettes advanced to the Semi-Finals of the FIBA World Championships for Women with a narrow 56-55 victory over host Netherlands in Amsterdam.

courtesy fiba.com

Although the Canadian jumped out to a 12-9 lead by the end of the First Quarter, a rough Second Quarter saw them give up that lead and fall behind by 26-22 at Halftime.

Although momentum had swung in the Dutch’s direction, Canadian Cadette Coach, Carly Clarke, made some adjustments during that Halftime break to first stop the bleeding, then forge ahead to claim the win.

“Great battle today, we struggled against their zone early in the game but in the 2nd half our execution really improved and allowed us to make some shots and get rebounds,” said Head Coach Carly Clarke.

Part of that Second Half improvement should certainly be credited to the play of the Canadian’s points leader, Kia Nurse (5’10”, G, Transway, 2014).   After being held to only 2 points in the First Half, Nurse exploded for 16 Second Half points.   Nurse started things off with a steal and the Canadians’ first bucket of the Half, all of which was pleasing to her Coach.

“We did a good job in our pressure to change the tempo and get some easy scores”, Clarke pleasingly remembers.

Nurse has really been making a name for herself.  At this stage in the tournament she has more than doubled the scoring output of her nearest teammate.  But she found support in Shay Colley (5’8″, G, Brampton Warriors, 2014), who contributed 13 points and 6 steals in the game to help keep Canada never too far from striking distance.

Colley, realizing the implications of the sudden-death, Quarter-Final game stuck to the blueprint laid out and credits her team in the win.

“We executed well on defense and implemented the game plan our coaches put in place,” said Canadian guard Shay Colley. “We played and did it as a team and really pulled through as a team.”

Key contributers for Team Canada vs Netherlands:
Kia Nurse 18 points, 4 steals
Shay Colley 13 points, 6 steals
Emma Wolfram 13 points, 6 rebounds
Saicha Grant-Allen 3 points, 12 rebounds

Canada had advanced to the Quarter-Finals with a 3-2 record in Pool A.

On August 25, in the Semis, Canada will have their work cut out for them.  They face the undefeated United States of America whom they were matched up with in Pool A and lost to 86-47 back on August 18.

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