Canada Storm into Americas Under-16 Semi Finals
Canada advance to the FIBA Americas Women's Under-16 Championship semi finals after a rampant quarter final victory over El Salvador.
It wasn’t their best performance, but Canada dominated the stat sheet and led by as many as 46 points in the contest. El Salvador did not score in the game until twelve minutes in, but even so they were limited to just six points in the first half, and nine in the remainder of the game. The final score was 61-15 to Canada.
Every Canadian player made the score sheet, led by Avianna Thompson with 13 points off the bench, while Tara Wallack also reached double-digits with 11 points and Teah Stupar taking care of defence, registering 11 rebounds.
Elsewhere, the USA had a similarly dominant performance over Brazil, the final score there being 107-32. For the victors, Sonia Citron led with 16 points and her team mate Lauren Betts posted 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Hosts Chile survived a late scare from Ecuador, who led throughout the third quarter, but flatlined in the fourth. Chile put up 23 points to secure the 56-43 win and their place in the next stage, with Fernanda Ovalle and Valentina Ojeda recording double-doubles for Chile and Samy Bacilio one for Ecuador.
In the closest of the four quarter final ties, Puerto Rico led all through the first half, but Mexico found new energy and took the lead just ahead of the final quarter.
Puerto Rico fought back in the paint to re-take the lead late in the game, but Mexico’s Evelyn Quiroz put up a three to make it a two-point game on the final possession. Though Puerto Rico could not put another point on the board, they held on to the ball long enough to close out the game and see off Mexico and book their semi-final spot.
Having won their respective quarter final games, Canada, USA, Chile and Puerto Rico have also qualified for next year’s Under-17 World Cup.
Canada and the USA continue their streak of appearing in every edition of the Under-17 World Cup - where the USA are the defending champions and four-time winners - while it will be the tournament debut for both Chile and Puerto Rico. Aside from host nation Romania, they are the first teams to qualify for 2020.
Canada will now face Chile for a place in the final, while the USA have set up an encounter with their territorial neighbours Puerto Rico. The winners of these games will advance to Saturday's final, while the unlucky teams will have a chance to salvage some pride and bring home the bronze medal.
Keep coming back for the latest news on Canada's progress in the Americas tournament, while everything else can be found on the official tournament website.
Picture: FIBA.com
