The Canadian U18 women’s team opened the FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship with a statement 68-40 win over Mexico.
Canada started the night attacking the paint, finding Fatima Diakhaté in the post while Mexico heavily pressured Lemyah Hylton on the perimeter. Hylton would find her way into the paint for the next four points, and T’yana Todd would come off the bench to hit two threes, but Mexico was able to keep pace with Canada early and they finished the first quarter down 15-13.
The Canadian’s began to pull away in the second quarter on a 12-2 run with efficient transition offence off of missed shots and turnovers. Mexico began to struggle to find answers for Canada’s fresher legs.
The guard rotation for Canada was too much for Mexico as they led 36-24 at half. Todd had a game-high 16 points, Hylton had 11 points and six rebounds. Jasmine Bascoe had 10 points, and while she had a tough first half, contributed eight rebound, seven assists and two steals. Emma Koabel had nine points, five rebounds and four assists.
Team Canada (Photos courtesy FIBA)
The hot shooting carried into the second half for Canada with Koabel finding her second made bucket from deep and Bascoe beginning to find her touch offensively. Canada opened a 20-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Marah Dykstra was just shy of a double-double with seven points and 11 rebounds, and Canada cruised to a dominant finish in the final frame of the game and in a tournament where point differential often plays a role in seeding, the nearly 30-point victory could be huge when it comes to brackets being set.
Canada will match up with Brazil Tuesday at 5 p.m. EST with the game being broadcast on FIBA’s YouTube channel. Brazil is coming off a 54-34 victory over Argentina where their front court duo of Taissa Nascimento Queiroz and Ana Beatriz Passos Alves Da Silva each had over 10 rebounds and turned the tide of the game in Brazil’s favour.
For link to watch the Canada/Brazil game at 5pm est. between Canada/Brazil click HERE!
Game 1: Canada vs. Mexico BOXSCORE click HERE & video below:
