Canada Basketball – TENERIFE, ESP (September 28, 2018) –  Canada’s Senior Women’s National Team fell to hosts Spain 68-53 on Friday night in the quarter-finals at FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018.

Click here for the box score.

For the third game in a row, Kia Nurse led the team in scoring, finishing with 15 points and three rebounds. Shay Colley added 13 points of her own, while Natalie Achonwa had eight points and five rebounds in the loss.  Astou Ndour had a game-high 16 points for Spain.

After Spain opened the game with a three-pointer, Canada rattled off a 9-0 run to take a 9-3 lead.  Canada carried a three-point advantage into the second quarter thanks in large part to the sharpshooting of Colley, who was a perfect 3-for-3 and scored 10 points in the opening frame.

However, an 8-2 run by Spain to open the second quarter erased the deficit and gave them the lead.  After a back and forth second, Canada entered halftime trailing the hosts by just two points, 29-27.

Tied 40-40 midway through the third quarter, Canada finished the quarter strong, outscoring Spain by six points and carried a three point lead into the final 10 minutes.

Backed by a raucous crowd of 3,553 at the Santiago Martin Arena in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Spain went on a dominant 19-0 run in the fourth quarter on their way to the 68-53 victory.

Click here for the roster.

QUOTES

“We really feel like we’re a team that should have been on the podium here but at the same time we’re ranked number five in the world and we want to prove to everybody that we still are.  We’re still coming and look out for us in the years to come. ” – Kim Gaucher

“I thought we gave ourselves a chance.  Unfortunately, there was a lid on the basket in the fourth quarter for us. We had a lead going in, got shots that we normally make, and unfortunately they didn’t go for us. Credit to Spain, they had something to do with that. But they came down and they made some tough shots.” – Lisa Thomaidis

UP NEXT

Canada will now play China on Saturday at 9:00 AM ET in the classification round at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018.

To stay updated on the Senior Women’s National Team and the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018, follow Canada Basketball on Twitter.

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For more information, contact:
Matt Walker, mwalker@basketball.ca