3x3 Women's Series Montreal - Day 2 Recap
This was the business end of the Montreal stop of the 3x3 Women's Series tour, where Canada had the chance to make what would be their most meaningful tournament victory of the year a reality.
Paige Crozon, Catherine Traer and, of course, Michelle and Katherine Plouffe were all back in action on the second day of competition. After an impressive showing in the pool stage, winning all three games convincingly and conclusively, Canada had earned a bye to the semi final stage. As play got underway on day two, they first waited to see who their next opponents would be.
It turned out Canada would face the USA for the second time in as many games, after the Americans' quarter final win over the more favoured Polish team. The winner here would move on to play the winner of the other semi final between Switzerland and Japan.
The semi final against the USA felt very familiar, and not just the team names on the board. Like in their pool stage game, Americans Michaela Onyenwere and Bella Alarie gave their all from the field, but it was no match for the greater physicality and fast, alert play from Canada.
Katherine Plouffe led the offence with eight points while also pulling down seven rebounds, while the rest of the team also made their contributions to the scoreline as Canada reached the 21 point-mark with the USA trailing by five and secured their spot in the final.
With a win by the same margin over Switzerland, it would be Japan who Canada would be taking on in the final. Japan had been the biggest surprise package in Montreal with an unbeaten run in a heated pool stage and, now having reached the final, they proved they were not a team to be taken lightly.
It looked like the final would be a close call, but turned out to be very one-sided. The best efforts of Naho Miyoshi and Stephanie Mawuli for Japan were far short of all of those made by Canada.
Their speed, agility and skill led to relentless offence against Japan. Michelle Plouffe ended her Montreal campaign with another first-rate performance - 10 points, four from beyond the arc, and seven total rebounds - with Paige Crozon adding five from the field herself.
With the final score 21-13 in their favour, the crowds went wild as Canada celebrated their latest Women's Series victory, this time on home soil. This puts them second in the series standings behind France. As well as collecting the gold medal, Michelle Plouffe finished as the third highest scorer and Katherine was in the top five for rebounds.
For more information, check out the official FIBA website.
Picture: FIBA.com
