Paralympic Women's Quarterfinals - Oh my, Canada is out

Rio de Janeiro (Rio 2016 Paralympic Games) - Coming into the Rio Paralympics, there were five teams that could reasonably think about taking home the gold medal. With this many strong teams in the tournament, two of them had to meet in a quarterfinal and one of them was going to finish this tournament in unfamiliar territory.

On this day in Rio, that would be Canada, based on a three-way tiebreak with Germany and Great Britain in Group A after they all finished 3-1 in the preliminary round. That put them in third position which meant a date with an in-form Dutch team that finished second to the Americans in Group B.

The defending world champions, Canada started strong, leading until the last minute of the first quarter when the Dutch went ahead by one. The Netherlands are a team that combines size, speed and tenacity, all traits that helped them grab an astonishing 21 offensive rebounds over the course of the game and a 24-6 margin in second chance points. The final score was 78-60.

The team in orange outscored the Canadians by 12 in the second quarter to lead by 13 at the half. Canada had no answer for Mariska Beijer, 31 points and 14 rebounds, or Inge Huitzing, 17 points. Cindy Ouellet led Canada with 20 with Janet McLachlan adding 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Inge Huitzing's outside shooting keeps defenders off of teammate Mariska Beijer inside and opens the game for the Netherlands. Photo by Steve Goldberg/SCS Media

The semifinals will feature defending Paralympic gold medalists Germany against their European nemesis the Netherlands, while the USA, the only team remaining without a loss, will meet the ladies of Great Britain, whose 50-45 upset of the Germans created the unexpected pairings.

Germany v France

Germany had little trouble with France, winning 76-28 in a game where coach Holger Glinicki was able to rest his starters for much of the game pending a much tougher semifinal against the Netherlands on Thursday. Mareike Miller led the Germans with 22 points followed by Marina Mohnen with 14. Gesche Schunemann captured 14 rebounds and passed for 14 assists along with scoring 7 points. Agnes Etavard-Glemp led France with 8 points.

Great Britain v China

While China were able to best France and Algeria, they were no match for the USA or Netherlands and have never looked as dangerous as they did in London. Great Britain won handily, 57-38, leading by 6 after one quarter, 16 at the half, and 23 going into the last 10 minutes. Helen Freeman led the Brits with a triple double 24 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists with Amy Conroy adding 16 points. Tienjiao Lei led China with 13 points.

USA v Brazil

Brazil are a better team than they were a year ago at the Parapan Am Games in Toronto but still a long way from threatening the big teams. The Americans dispatched the hosts 66-35 in the last quarterfinal and now look towards keeping the upstart GB at bay in the next round. Rose Hollermann led the USA with 28 points on 70 percent shooting followed by Becca Murray with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists.

9^th/10^th Placement

The first women's side from Africa in the tournament, Algeria would finish last in their first Paralympic Games, losing to Argentina 53-38. Maria Pallares lead all scorers with 24 points for Argentina with Silia Linari and Julieta Almedo adding 10 apiece. Menouba Foulani led Algeria with 12.