(São Paulo, Brazil) The Canadian women officially qualified for the 2022 World Championships with a 100-30 win over Argentina in the semifinals of the Americas Cup on Sunday in São Paulo.
Team Canada will now play for gold on Monday.
“We started three months ago with this goal, so now that it’s done, it’s not that it was stressful, but now we can feel more relaxed,” said Senior Women’s National Team Head Coach Marc Antoine Ducharme.
Arinn Young had a game-high 32 points, 14 rebounds, and seven assists. Kady Dandeneau poured in 25 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, and Cindy Ouellet added 10 points, six rebounds, and five assists in the win.
Canada dominated from start to finish on Sunday morning, leading 31-7 after one, 51-15 at the half, and 75-21 heading into the fourth. The Canadians scored 31 points off Argentinian turnovers and finished shooting 43 of 75 from the field.
“It’s amazing,” said Tara Llanes. “I just felt like we came out, we played Canada ball, distributed the ball well, people were making cuts, reads, passes, shots – just so happy for this team and for us to play like we play and to punch our ticket to Dubai.”
Complete stats from Sunday’s win over Argentina can be found here.
On the men’s side, Canada will play for bronze after dropping a 66-53 decision to Argentina in the semifinals.
Nik Goncin had a game-high 26 points, six rebounds, and six assists in the loss. Colin Higgins added 11 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, while Lee Melymick chipped in six points.
Canada struggled, shooting just 38 per cent from the field and going 3 of 10 from three-point range in Sunday’s loss.
“It was a little bit of the shots weren’t falling,” said Bo Hedges. “Argentina brought a lot of contact, and it made it really tough on us. We had lots of good looks. The shots were there, so it’s a good learning experience for the group to put multiple good games together and fight through that type of stuff.
“We still get another game, keep learning – that’s what this is all about – keep building towards Dubai.”
Full stats from Sunday’s game against Argentina can be found here.
The Canadian women won gold at the last Americas Cup tournament in Cali, Colombia in 2017 while the men won silver.
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