Recap: Canada at the 3x3 Women's Series in Lignano
Having made a big impression so far on the 3x3 Women's Series, Canada were still in search of a tour title, and hoped to capture it on the series' latest stop in the northwestern Italian town of Lignano.
Joining team regulars Katherine Plouffe, Paige Crozon and Brittany this time around was Mariah Nunes, who made her debut in the Women's Series. Formerly of the Ryserson Rams in USports and the Farleigh Dickenson Knights in the NCAA, Nunes has also played professionally for three years in Portugal and Spain.
The tournament began with a heated, highly contested match-up with Hungary, where there was little to choose between the two. Cyesha Goree was making waves for the Hungarian side, finishing with seven points and nine rebounds in the game.
Katherine Plouffe provided the spark for Canada in their first game, and her superior offence - scoring eleven points - saw the team prevail 15 points to 13. She continued this form in the team’s second game of the day against the Netherlands, where she missed only four shot attempts throughout the whole game. The Dutch team kept up the pressure on offence, but unable to contain Canada on defence, they were resigned to the four-point loss.
While not playing at full strength in their final pool game, Canada saw no problems against Ukraine, whose lacklustre play made them easy work. Paige Crozon and Mariah Nunes made contributions from the field alongside Plouffe, as they finished perfect in Pool B with a final 14-7 win over Ukraine.
Given a bye to the semi-finals, Canada waited to see who their next opponents would be, and prevailing with a one-point victory over the Netherlands in the deciding game, Spain were the team who kept themselves in contention and would take on the Canadians for a place in the final.
The Spanish team had with victories over Italy and Romania where they had made it to 21 points. A surprise 13-10 loss to China in the third game was all that cost them first place in Pool A, but their results here and in the elimination game against the Netherlands showed they were going to be tough opponents.
When the semi final began, the teams were hard to separate until Brittany Johnson made a shot outside, followed up by Plouffe inside, to put Canada up by four midway through. Their lead did not last long - Spain closed the gap to one and despite the best efforts of Canada to keep their lead alive, their opponents monopolised offence and kept up the pressure on Canada's defence.
Sandra Ygueravide Viana led Spain's offence with eight points, while Nurina Martinez Prat did well to protect the ball, finishing with seven total rebounds, as Spain made the final at Canada's expense, winning the semi final match-up 17-13.
Though they fell short of the title, Plouffe finished behind only Cyeshe Goree in scoring and was joint second in rebounding, while her 6.3 boards per game saw Crozon finish in the top five rebounders in Lignano.
Meanwhile, Spain set up a rematch with China, who prevailed 20-18 over Hungary in the semi-finals. This time, though, it was for the top prize in Lignano. With ZhiTing Zhang playing top offence, China were able to capture the Lignano tournament title, beating Spain 18-16 in the final.
Full details of the Lignano Women's Series tournament can be found on the official FIBA 3x3 website.
Picture: FIBA.com
