ISTANBUL (FIBA World Championship for Women) - Canada defeated China 61-53 on Sunday to finish in fifth place at the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women.

In what was touted as a "battle of development programmes", Canada broke away in the latter part of the second half with a 9-0 run powering their progress leaving China to play catch up for the rest of the game.

Canada's Kim Gaucher, the most senior player on either team, led all scorers with her 16 points. Miranda Ayim added 15 in the winning cause and just missed out on a double-double by one rebound.

Shao Ting came up with another creditable showing for China with a dozen points, 7 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.

"Top-five finish is a great accomplishment for us when we came into this tournament ranked ninth (in the FIBA bwin World Ranking Women)," said Gaucher.

"We had really great guards who played extremely well right through the tournament. Next summer we get to host the FIBA Americas Championship for Women in Edmonton and we are absolutely pumped up for that."

Canada coach Lisa Thomaidis pointed out the importance of having her young team win against another young team like China.

"I imagine we'll be battling them over the next few years. So it was a great opportunity to test our mettle against them early," she said.

FIBA