Dominant USA, Canada set for Finals clash
YUCATAN (Mexico) - USA and Canada punched their tickets to the 2023 FIBA U16 Women's Americas Championship Finals, taking down Argentina and Puerto Rico, respectively, on Sunday night.
USA are in the U16 Women's Americas Final for the fourth consecutive edition, having won gold in each of the previous three tournaments, and six overall.
Canada, meanwhile, have reached their sixth straight Final at the event and have won one gold medal in 2015.
This will also be the sixth meeting in the Final between USA and Canada in the history of the competition.
Here's a look at how the Semifinals went down:
USA 112 - 48 Argentina
USA racked up another blowout win over Argentina to advance to the championship game and are win away from lifting the trophy.
After being tied at 9 points apiece, USA closed the first quarter with a 30-8 run to create separation for a 39-17 lead. They kept their foot on the gas in the second quarter and followed up on their big start by scoring 26 points and holding Argentina to 13 points, putting the game out of reach by halftime.
It was more of the same as Argentina were held to 18 points in the second half.
USA shot 56.4 percent from the field and held Argentina to only 15 made shots and 25 percent shooting. USA's bench also outscored Argentina as a team 54-48.
McKenna Woliczko had her second double-double of the tournament with 24 points and 13 rebounds, along with 2 assists and 2 steals (34 efficiency), Lanie Grant came up big off the bench with 20 points in 19 minutes (6-of-9 FG, 3-of-6 3P, 5-of-5 FT) and Aaliyah Crump also provided 13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals off the bench (6-of-9 FG).
Semifinal Stars 🤩@McKennaDub 24 PTS, 13 REB@laniegrant2025 20 PTS, 3 AST@JerzyRobinson 15 PTS, 4 REB@crump_aaliyah 13 PTS, 6 REB
— USABJNT (@usabjnt) June 19, 2023
🇺🇸 #USABWU16 x #FIBAU16Americas pic.twitter.com/P0mKb4bw9A
Argentina's top scorer and rebounder Milagros Morell was held to just 3 points, and 1 rebound, but Isabella Ingenito stepped up to score 12 points in only 14 minutes.
USA square off against Canada in the Gold Medal Game on Monday night after Argentina face Puerto Rico in the Bronze Medal Game.
Puerto Rico 49 - 77 Canada
It was a back-and-forth start to the game with little separation, but Canada found their stride and ramped up the pressure to secure a 77-49 victory.
The game had 10 lead changes in the first half before Canada opened up a 17-point lead due to outscoring Puerto Rico 18-6 in the third quarter. Canada followed that up with a 13-2 fourth quarter, holding Puerto Rico to just 8 points in the final 20 minutes.
Savannah Swords finished the game with a personal best 20 points plus 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, shooting 8-of-12 from the field. Cearah Parchment recorded her second straight double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Despite making 1-of-15 shots from beyond the arc, Canada took advantage of their opportunities from two-point and shot 56.6 percent.
Puerto Rico had two players lead the way with 11 points each in Adriana Robles and Desirek Nieves. Robles also added 7 steals, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Canada have the tall task of facing USA for the gold medal and Puerto Rico get to play Argentina for third place, as they look for their first ever medal at the U16 Women's Americas Championship.
Here were the results in the 5-8 Classification Games:
Dominican Republic 57 - 58 Colombia
After trailing by as many as 9 points and only leading for a total of 11:53, Colombia pulled out a nailbiter over Dominican Republic.
Maria Perez led Colombia with a team-high 12 points along with 7 rebounds and 4 assists, while Marta Moscarella had a well-balanced game of 9 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks.
Alanna Monte grabbed a tournament-high 23 rebounds in defeat for Dominican Republic, while Arianna Mercado scored a team-high 18 points.
Colombia will meet Brazil in the Classification 5-6 game, while Dominican Republic will go for their first win against Mexico, who are also looking for their first win, in the Classification 7-8 game.
Brazil 66 - 54 Mexico
Brazil secured their second win of the tournament after defeating Mexico in the second game of the day, thanks to a 42-26 stretch in the second and third quarters.
Sther Ubaka recorded a 38 efficiency, the highest single game efficiency of the tournament, after a monster double-double of 22 points and 18 rebounds along with 3 steals and 2 assists. Nicolly Sanches added 16 points (4-of-9 3P), her best scoring game of the tournament.
Brazil sunk the third-most three-pointers by a team in a single game (nine), as Sanches and Micaela Cavalcanti (3-of-12 3P) combined to make seven of them.
Mexico team captain Sandra Acuna led the way in the loss with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.
Brazil now have a meeting with Colombia in the 5-6 game, and the hosts on the other hand, will attempt to go out on a high note when they take on Dominican Republic in the seventh-place game.
FIBA