The Canadian women’s basketball team is in a tough spot after its opening match at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Taking on hosts France in the first match of Group B action, Canada fell by a disappointing 75-54 margin.
Canada entered the fourth quarter down 17 points, 53-36, and wasn’t able to close the gap by any sizeable amount.
Basketball féminin 🏀 : à la fin du troisième quart, le Canada 🇨🇦 tire de l’arrière 53-36 face à la France 🇫🇷 . Les Canadiennes ont 10 minutes pour revenir dans le match!@CanadaBball #paris2024 #rcsports pic.twitter.com/XVXHF07PXe
— Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) July 29, 2024
Turnovers were a major issue on the day for Canada, as they had 25 compared to just 10 for their counterparts.
Canada also struggled from deep for much of the contest, making just five three-pointers on 18 attempts, in comparison to 8/31 shooting from the French.
The match took place in Lille at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, a few hours from the main Olympic venues. Usually a soccer stadium, the converted basketball stadium can fit 27,360 fans, with a very pro-France crowd heavily occupying the stands on Monday.
Despite the hostile conditions, the result was a rather unexpected one given the teams’ respective global standings. Canada is currently ranked fifth in the world, as per FIBA’s system, while the French side is ranked seventh.
Canada will need favourable results over their final two matches of group stage play to be one of eight teams to qualify for the quarterfinal. While winning the group might be tough, the top two of the three third-place teams also qualify for the final eight teams left.
Canada last played in the quarterfinals of women’s basketball at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where France knocked them out by a 68-63 score.
In other Group A action, Nigeria defeated Australia by a 75-62 score earlier on Monday.
On Saturday, Canada picked up its first win in 24 years in Olympic men’s basketball, grinding out a victory over two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Greek national team. While their lead dipped to as low as two points in the fourth quarter, Canada outlasted their Greek counterparts for an 86-79 final score.
Both the Canadian men’s and women’s teams will face off against Australia in their next matches. The men return to action at 7:30 am ET/4:30 am PT on Tuesday, while the women face off at the same time on Thursday.
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