PARIS – Arinn Young scored a game-high 26 points leading the Senior Women’s National Team to a 63-54 win over Great Britain on Saturday at Bercy Arena.
Young added 12 rebounds and eight assists, while Cindy Ouellet scored 19 points, three assists and two rebounds. Kady Dandeneau chipped in seven points, three rebounds and three assists.
“I thought we were really prepared for Game 1. We continued that yesterday with the day off, continued to prep, and I give the athletes a lot of credit; they stuck to the things we were trying to progress with,” said head coach Michele Sung. “That’s our first win, but it’s also game two of what we hope is six games.”
Despite the fourth quarter push from GB, Team Canada’s defence was able to weather the storm and held Great Britain to 43 per cent shooting from the field.
“That was huge for us. GB is such a good team, and we just played friendlies against them a month ago. That was huge,” said Tara Llanes. “We had a really big game from everyone: Arinn Young, Cindy Ouellet, Rosalie Lalonde – everybody.
“I think the important thing was to keep the foot on the gas – that was our big thing: throw the first punch and keep punching.”
The SWNT opened the second half on an 11-0 run and out-scored GB 22-12 in the period to carry a 51-36 lead into the fourth.
Team Canada led 29-24 through two quarters.
SWNT scored five straight to erase an eight point deficit and pull to within three with 2:30 to play in the half.
Then Young hit a three to level the score at 22-22 with three minutes remaining. Ouellet and Young hit back-to-back shots to give Canada the lead and Young capped the half draining her second shot from beyond the arc giving the SWNT a five point cushion at the break.
Ouellet paced Canada with 11 points, Young added eight points, three rebounds and two assists, while Dandeneau chipped in seven points.
Canada went on a 6-0 run to pull head 8-4 with 3:36 to play in the opening quarter, but Great Britain responded, scoring seven unanswered to hold a 13-10 lead after one period.
Dandeneau paced Canadian scorers with six, and Ouellet added four.
Next, the SWNT wraps up group play against Spain on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Stats from the women’s victory over GB can be found here.
SMNT to ‘adapt’ moving forward at Paralympics
The Senior Men’s National Team hopes to learn from its 88-58 loss to Great Britain on Saturday at the Paralympics.
Colin Higgins had a team-high 14 points and three assists, and Patrick Anderson chipped in 11 points and three assists.
“GB is a great team, so getting reps against them, getting video and getting everybody some touches out there is pretty important this early in the tournament,” said Bo Hedges, who added eight points. “It’s a long tournament still – we’ve got four more games coming up. It’s good to get going and see what they’re going to do to us.”
Team Canada trailed 50-33 at halftime.
Despite the 17-point deficit, Canada played GB closer in the second quarter, holding them to within two points.
“I think we’ve got to adapt a little bit and start banging like the other teams right from the get-go as opposed to getting into it in the second or third quarter,” said Nik Goncin, who added eight points and six rebounds.
“We’ve just got to put this one behind us. Learn whatever we can from it and Germany is for sure a game we could win.”
Higgins had seven points and two assists through two periods.
Canada shot 13 of 28 after two quarters of play, while GB shot 67 per cent from the field at the break.
Hedges, Vincent Dallaire, and Higgins each scored four first-quarter points, but the SMNT trailed 29-14 after one period.
Canada wraps up group play on Monday against Germany at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Full stats from the men’s game versus GB can be found here.
Tournament schedule and results can be found on WBC’s website.
Images from the 2024 Paralympics can be found on the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s photo shelter here.
MEDIA CONTACT
Dhiren Mahiban
Media Attaché, Wheelchair Basketball
dmahiban@wheelchairbasketball.ca / 416-574-6682 (WhatsApp)