BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The good news for Brazil is they jumped out to an early lead against unbeaten Canada in the U-18 women's basketball Americas Championship on Tuesday.
The bad news is it was brief — a 6-3 lead quickly turned into 22-8 deficit. And then Canada got hot, eventually winning 80-38 to register their second consecutive win in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“This was a big win for us, a chance to control our fate moving forward in the rest of pool play,” Canadian coach Steve Baur said. “Brazil did a really great job in the first half on their offensive glass and it really set up a challenge for us at halftime to meet that.
"Our athletes had a great response owning the defensive glass which allowed us to get out in transition and get some easy buckets. We used the easy points to create some momentum and create some separation going into the fourth quarter.”
Brazil held an early until Canadian Emma Koabel’s second three-pointer of the game began a 19-2 Canada run to close the first quarter. Canada had a 22-8 lead after the opening 10 minutes and they never looked back.
Canada was led by a 15-point performance from T’yana Todd, as well as 14 points from Koabel, who connected on four three-pointers in the game. Lemyah Hylton made her presence felt all over the court, especially in the third quarter where Canada broke the game open. Hylton finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. Marah Dykstra recorded a game-high 15 rebounds and Fatima Diakhaté added 10 points and seven rebounds in the win.
“I think starting out the game, we really went in there with a dog mentality. We all came together and really contributed,” Hylton said. “Everybody scored, everybody was on the boards today. Everybody participated and did our part. I think that’s really what led us to our win today."
Canada shot 34 per cent in the game to just 20 per cent for Brazil. On the glass, Canada held a 70-49 edge in rebounding, including 28-18 in offensive rebounds.
Canada will play Argentina on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jun 14, 2022
The Canadian Press
