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Summer Universiade (Aug 21): Canada posts best finish since 2001 in wbb
Photo credit Freestyle Photography
SHENZHEN, China (CIS) – The Canadian women’s basketball team dropped a 71-52 decision to Russia on Sunday morning in its Summer Universiade finale but still managed a sixth-place finish in the 15-team tournament, its best result since the 2001 Games in Beijing.
STATISTICS: CAN vs RUS
“I’m really proud of the girls. I think overall we had a very good tournament. We beat the teams we were supposed to beat,” said Team Canada and University of Saskatchewan head coach Lisa Thomaidis. “It was hard for us to play the Russians twice. They are so imposing physically, they have four players over six-foot-five, including one who’s six-foot-nine. They are a team that expected to be in the final.”
Canada had lost 73-46 to Russia (5-1) on Aug. 15 in its second pool game. Overall, the Red and White finished the competition with a 2-3 record.
In Sunday’s fifth-place match, Kendel Ross of Sarnia, Ont., once again led the way with 17 points. The University of Dayton student was Canada’s top scorer in every game during the tourney and maintained a 15 point-per-game average.
Megan Pinske of Coquitlam, B.C., also scored in double figures with 11.
The Canadians trailed 20-14 after the opening quarter, 34-20 at halftime and 56-36 after 30 minutes. Russia held a significant 48-32 advantage in rebounding and shot 47 per cent from the floor, compared to 31 per cent for Canada.
Since a sixth-place result in 2001, Canada had finished 13th, 11th, seventh and 15th at the biennial world university games. The country’s best result at the Universiade in women’s basketball is a pair of bronze medals in 1991 in Sheffield, England, and in 1979 in Mexico City.
The United States faces Taiwan on Sunday night in the 2011 final.
