Amsterdam, Netherlands – The cadette women’s national team dropped their semi-final game to the USA 84-59. Canada will play the loser between Spain and Japan tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. EDT for the bronze medal at the FIBA U17 World Championship.

“We lost to a good basketball team today,” said head coach, Carly Clarke. “I thought we executed well at times, but in the end we turned it over too much and gave up too many offensive rebounds, and their depth wore on us in the second half. We are still very excited for the opportunity to play for a medal tomorrow.”

Canada had three players score in double digits including; Kia Nurse (14), Emma Wolfram (14) and Emily Potter (13). Saicha Grant-Allen grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

“We executed well on defense and implement the game plan our coaches put in place,” said Canadian forward, Emily Potter. “We played and did it as a team and really pulled through as a team.”

Linnae Harper led the USA with eleven points, while Rebecca Greenwell scored seven points and had a game-high 12 rebounds.

The game began with a high tempo. Canada went on an 11-1 in the middle of the quarter to gain a 13-6 lead. USA was able to bounce back with a 16-3 run to end the quarter. After the opening ten minutes USA led 22-16.

Canada began the second quarter on a 5-0 run, to cut the deficit to one point.  Canada was then able to tie the game after Emma Wolfram hit a jumper, and then Emily Potter gave Canada the 28-26. The lead was short lived, as USA was able to go on a 15-4 run to finish the half. Canada was down 41-32 after the first half.

In the third quarter, Canada’s offence began to slow down. Canada was able to only score eight points in the quarter, compared to USA’s 18 points. In the final 8:02 of the quarter, USA went on a 15-4 run to add to their lead. USA took the 59-40 into the fourth quarter.

With a 19 point lead, the Canadians were unable to fuel a comeback against the Americans. The Americans went on to defeat Canada 84-59.

For box score, click here.

Canada will take on the loser between Spain and Japan tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. EDT for the bronze medal. The game can be watched online atFIBAtv.com and can be follow on FIBA Live-Stats.

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