Well, that was a change of pace.
After battling with Brazil for a tight victory Sunday, the Canadian senior women’s national team strolled to a 98-41 win over El Salvador to move to 3-0 on the tournament on Monday.
Canada’s offence hasn’t been lacking during the AmeriCup. Coming into this game they were averaging 50 per cent from the field, and 44 per cent from the three-point line – far ahead of anyone else in the tournament. While they’ve struggled with turnovers at times, averaging 19.5 per game, they’ve largely taken care of business throughout the group phase.
El Salvador had no answers for the pace of play from the Canadian team. Although their 2-3 zone held the Canadians in check from deep in the first half, limiting them to just 21 per cent. Team Canada adjusted to attacking the paint and shot over 57 per cent from inside the arch and ended the game with 40 per cent from three, driven by a dynamic drive and kick game.
“We had a lot of open looks, we’re really working on getting open shots, getting great shots, so we’re committed to that process, and I thought we did it at times, and there were other times that we settled for earlier contested shots,” said Canadian head coach Lisa Thomaidis. “We’re going to continue to be accountable to ourselves for getting those high-quality shots regardless of our opponent.”
Canada continues to develop their new up-tempo offence and while Thomaidis says while they’re getting there, they need to find a balance between playing with pace and getting their forwards touches inside.
“I think we can sometimes get lulled into dribble drive and the ball not getting inside, but we really need to make sure we are getting some touches inside, we have some great athletes than can score from there and score in a one-on-one situation,” said Thomaidis.
Forward Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe says it’s hard at times to find where she fits in the offence as a big.
“At the moment, I know this is going to change, but it is very guard dominated,” said Raincock-Ekunwe. “It’s just finding the areas where I can score, where I can get the ball. It’s a similar situation for Miranda (Ayim), Kayla (Alexander), Laeticia (Amihere), so we’re just learning, just finding where we fit into this offence and how we can be effective.”
Canada’s depth continued to show itself in this game. With Shay Colley out, Aislinn Konig, who was averaging 42.9 per cent from deep through the first two games of group phases, stepped into the starting lineup and the team didn’t miss a beat while Pickering native Shaina Pellington led all scorers with 21 points and four assists as she continues to develop in her role as the first player off the bench.
“She’s a great athlete, she’s explosive, she can get out and score in transition. I think you’re seeing a lot of that right now,” said Thomaidis. “We’re really leaning on her heavily to create for others as well. As a point guard there’s a lot of room for growth in her game but she’s certainly preforming well so far and we’re happy with that.”
Canada will now be looking to go undefeated Tuesday when they face the 2-1 Colombians at 3:10pm EST. before getting a rest day on Wednesday. The game will be broadcast online on DAZN.
Canada vs. El Salvador BOXSCORE
