Canada Crash Out of the 2023 3x3 World Cup - Report
Canada's 3x3 World Cup hopes came to an abrupt end on the fifth day of competition in Vienna.
This comes after a promising but uneven start to the competition on day one. They rode this optimism into their next day of action, opening against Mongolia with eight unanswered points. The Mongols picked up some loose points from then on but Canada were firmly in control and had got the win by 21-9 with just over half the time elapsed.
Paige Crozon led all with eleven points in the Canadians' biggest blowout of the competiton so far, downing Mongolia by twelve points. Following on from this Hungary opened the scoring but Canada found some momentum and went six points without reply.
The Plouffes unstoppable in the low post, stringing together scoring runs, their lead stretched out to seven. The ball was falling far less for Hungary, whose scoring came in short bursts while the Canadian lead kept climbing ever higher.
Hungary attempted to mount a comeback but there was no time left for that and Katherine Plouffe put the game to bed with a ten-point Canadian victory. This result saw Canada top Pool C and they earned a bye past the play-in round. They were now three games away from contending for the 3x3 World title, but France were ready to interrupt that pathway.
The Plouffes were the first to score in the quarter final but the French were quick to close the gap and Hortense Limouzin gave them a one-point lead which which changed hands six times. With two minutes left Michelle put Canada up by two, but France made successive shots in the paint to tie the scores once again.
Kacie Bosch gave Canada hope in the final minute, but with seconds left Marie-Eve Paget got a layup to drop and got the rebound, bringing all Canadian hopes crashing down with a shock quarter-final exit.
A sad ending to what has been an otherwise great campaign for Canada in Austria. In there time there they put up three dominant wins and Michelle Plouffe led the team on offence, finishing with 6.6 points per game, followed by Paige Crozon who had a scoring average of 5.2 and was the best from outside for her team.
This team is due to be back in action on June 23rd when the Women's Series makes a stop in Orleans. Until then, read up on all that is happening at the 3x3 World Cup, follow this link to the official tournament website.
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