AYSÉN (Chile) - Canada secured the first place of Group A, the USA handed the hosts their first loss and Mexico and Ecuador celebrated their first wins of the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship 2019.

 
The Canadians finished the Group Phase with the top of their group and a 3-0 record following an 83-40 win over Puerto Rico.

 
The troop of the north took four minutes to settle into its game, began to run quick transitions and to move the ball to take the difference. In defense, the team was accurate stealing 18 balls and capitalizing on Puerto Rico’s 27 turnovers.

Puerto Rico, despite the setback, finished with the second position of the group with a 1-2.

For the third consecutive game, all of the Canadian players managed to score. Avianna Thompson had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Isaline Alexander added 11 points. For Puerto Rico, Jullie Ruiz was the best with 14 points.

The USA handed Chile its first loss of the continental championship, following a 109-44 performance.

 
Chile gave tough-battle during the first quarter, but the North Americans took control of the game by unleashing its strength.

The Americans imposed the conditions in all facets of the game, but the most marked difference was in the painted area, were the USA dominated the rebounds 77-23 and scored 54 points under the basket.

Payton Verhulst guided the offense with 21 points. Lauren Betts and Sonia Citron added 16 points. For Chile, Fernanda Ovalle and Catalina Valenzuela scored 13 and 11 points respectively.

Ecuador defeated Brazil with a score of 71-55 and finished third in Group A.

Puerto Rico, Ecuador a Brazil finished the Group Phase with a 1-2 record, but the tiebreaker left Puerto Rico in the second position, Ecuador in third and Brazil fourth.

The Ecuadorians took the reins of the match in the first half, thanks to an effective defensive pressure that allowed them to steal 12 balls and forced the Brazilians to 15 turnovers in that first half. In addition, they were very effective from long distance to score seven three-pointers in 14 attempts, which gave the team a 44-20 lead at the half.

Brazil improved in the second 20 minutes, mainly in defense, but throughout the match was very erratic in the offense, only scoring 17 field goals in 71 attempts (24 percent).

In Group B action, Mexico achieved its first win and left its mark in 1-1 by defeating El Salvador, 73-25.

The Mexican squad dominated from the start and was vastly superior in all aspects of the game. Power forward Mariana Valenzuela excelled for the Mexicans with 18 points and 21 rebounds. Arantxa Fonseca followed with 10 points. For El Salvador, Amanda Williams contributed 10 points.

Mexico and the USA will close out the Group Phase on Wednesday. The Quarterfinals will take place this Thursday.

The winners of the Quarter-Finals will advance to the Semi-Finals and will earn a ticket to the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2020.

FIBA