If you take away the second quarter, Canada and France battled to a 52-52 tie. Unfortunately, that’s not how this works.
France is coming off a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics and played like it with the home crowd as an added advantage. Meanwhile Canada recently integrated its WNBA starters in Kia Nurse and Bridget Carleton. This was always going to be a tough game to begin the Olympics and lack of familiarity definitely didn’t help.
Despite this, the first quarter started out relatively well. Natalie Achonwa (playing in her fourth and final Olympics) utilized her passing ability in the high post area on the first play of the game, finding Shay Colley for a layup plus the foul. The duo connected again in reverse order a few minutes later.
Aaliyah Edwards checked in, providing hustle plays and deflections. Canada led 18-15 after 10 minutes.
Then things completely fell apart. France simply stifled the Canadians in the second quarter. Very little offence was executed, leading to either one of nine turnovers in the quarter alone, or a desperation missed three at the end of the shot clock. Many possessions saw Nurse or Carleton blitzed well above the three point line, which led to deflections and sparked France’s transition game. After a 21-0 French run, Carleton scored Canada’s lone basket with 1:29 left. France walked away with a 23-2 advantage, leading by 18 at halftime and essentially putting any hopes to bed.
Canada responded with a better third quarter but never got closer than within 13 points. Gabby Williams (who played 5 years in the WNBA) was a two way force, finding lanes to the rim and finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds and five steals. The turnovers continued to mount. Canada had 25 for the game, and a game high eight committed by Colley. In comparison, France only gave up nine turnovers.
After making very few perimeter shots in the first three quarters, the Canadians found a bit of a rhythm from deep. Sami Hill, Carleton and Nurse all connected from deep over a two minute stretch. However in exchange, great ball movement from the French resulted in corner threes of their own. Neither team ended up shooting well from three (5-18 for Canada, 8-31 for France), but as the game progressed, France generated significantly better looks.
Losing by 21 is quite the hole to climb out of. Keep in mind that Canada didn’t advance past the group stage in the Tokyo Olympics, finishing as the ninth place team after losing out on a tiebreaker by three points. Nigeria upset Australia by 13 earlier in the day, so Canada currently ranks last in Group B based on point differential. The Opals also had a miserable time holding onto the ball in that contest, coughing up 26 turnovers. Thursday’s game has to be seen as a must win, acknowledged by Nurse postgame.
“It’s gonna be a battle of two desperate teams….. we have two days to regroup. Can’t really dwell on it, gotta get one on the board.” Nurse said.
Nurse and Colley (11 points apiece) led Canada in scoring.
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