Canada End Run at Women's U-17 World Cup

The knockout round of any tournament is brutal, with so much on the line a mistake and it could all be over. After a strong start to the Women's Under-17 World Cup with a 2-1 group stage record and players making headlines back home, Cheryl Jean-Paul's Canadian team looked confident and had a favorable bracket ahead of them which they hoped would spell success for them at the business end of the tournament.

The team opened against New Zealand by holding them to just four points in the opening quarter; their opponents tried to catch up in the second but Canada, absolutely dominant in the paint, had soon rebuilt their unassailable advantage. Taija Sta Maria was the unsung spark with 17 points in limited time off the bench, in a game where eleven Canadians made the score sheet and they had 43 points from turnover.

Canada's 70-36 win over New Zealand saw them advance to the quarter finals and home nation Hungary, where they bit the hand of their hosts. After a close start with Canada fighting to hold a narrow lead over Hungary, the second quarter saw them shut out the opposition at the expense of putting up any points of their own. Delaney Gibb snapped the cold streak and after an 11-2 run in the second Canada went up by double digits.

After exchanging baskets at the start of the second half, Canada asserted themselves and maintained their double-digit lead, with Cassandre Prosper making it a twenty-point game in the fourth quarter. Canada sank the dagger with ten points in the last three minutes, knocking out the hosts 70-49, with Prosper leading all with 21 points and Toby Fournier recording another double-double for Canada as they roll on in Debrecen.

They hit a roadblock in the semi finals, where waiting for them was eternal opponents, the USA. When the teams faced off on the sixteenth it looked all over early on after Canada gave up sixteen points without reply and the Americans held them to just nine points in the opening quarter. The Americans continued to dominate almost exclusively from the low post - they had 56 points in the paint - while Canada kept coming up short and unable to mount a chance at a comeback.

Prosper had another double-double, 11 points and 10 total rebounds, but Canada could do nothing to overcome a rampant American team, who had five players score in double digits and won by thirty points. There was still a chance for Canada to go home with some silverware, the loss here reserving them a place in the bronze medal match against France, themselves having lost to Spain.

Canada kept up with France until the end of the first quarter, where they flatlined and the French went in front by nine. Prosper ended the cold steak and Canada then shut out France, compiling a 14-1 run, they had a lead they tried to hold on to but it wasn't long before the French re-asserted themselves.

Three-point shooters Bree Robinson and Deniya Trinity-Prawl tried to close the gap and the team made it a single-possession game late in the third, where the lead changed hands four times and, after trying to assail the French lead in the fourth, Delaney Gibb put the Canadians up one midway through.

A one-point lead changed hands five times and a three from Inès Salahy put France up four in the final minute. Prosper made a late layup, keeping it a single possession game, but France held on to possession in the final seconds to see out victory by two and the tournament's bronze medal. Prosper finished with 18 and Gibb led all with 25 points, which included four three-pointers, which would be bittersweet for both having to come home empty-handed.

Even so Canada have impressed very much in this tournament and players who will definitely become the country's next basketball stars have announced themselves here in Hungary. The future is looking bright for Canada, for now find out more on every game can over on the official website for the FIBA U-17 Women's World Cup.