SANTIAGO (Chile) – Canada will face off against the United States after claiming victory over Colombia 73-49 on Friday afternoon at Centro de Deportes Colectivos. The team will compete in the Women’s AmeriCup Semi-Finals for the ninth consecutive edition, and has medaled in seven of the previous eight editions. It was Canada's fourth win over Colombia in four AmeriCup meetings.
Turning point
Canada's second-quarter efforts helped them extend a 7-point lead to a 21-point lead at the half, thanks to scoring 24 points to Colombia's 10. Despite shooting 39 percent as a team, Canada shot 45.5 percent from two-point range and 84 percent from the foul line compared to Colombia's 57.1 percent.
Player of the game
While Shay Colley and Yvonne Ejim both dumped in 12 points for Canada, Colley was a perfect 100 percent from two-point range and also grabbed 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals for Canada in the win. Kayla Alexander has 8 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks, which led her to rise in the latest rankings in the three categories: she reached 269 points in her history in the AmeriCup (12th), 220 rebounds (2nd), and 19 blocks (9th).
Stats don’t lie
Canada continued to win the battles in transition, scoring 13 points on the fast break, and turned 18 turnovers from Colombia into 15 points on top of that. Also dominating down low, Canada out-rebounded Colombia 46-32, and scored six second chance points while keeping Colombia to zero.
Bottom line
Canada continued to use its rotation to get the best out of the game, with six players scoring seven or more points in the win. The team also had four players grab four or more rebounds and tallied 12 steals as a group. Canada will now face United States in the Semi-Finals.
They said
"We were locked in pretty defensively today, we'll let that offense run a little smoother tomorrow, and it will put us in a better position," said head coach Nell Fortner. "We did a great job as a team coming in and applying the pressure of pushing the pace at the start of the game. I thought our defense was good the first half of the game ... we just have to stay locked in for 40 minutes," said Colley.
FIBA