The Canadian women’s national basketball team will not be basking in Olympic glory this year.
In their final group stage game against Nigeria, Canada fell by a 79-70 score to end their Paris 2024 campaign with a disappointing record of zero wins and three losses.
Despite going winless in their first two contests, Canada entered Sunday with an outside shot of advancing to the eight-team quarterfinals in the 12-team tournament. Two teams in each of the three groups automatically qualify, while the top two next third-place teams also advance to the single-game elimination knockout rounds.
With point differential the key tiebreaker in FIBA contests, Canada would’ve needed a win by at least 26 points to advance to the knockout stages, or a win by 10 or more and France beating Australia in action later today.
Canada held a 41-37 lead at halftime on Sunday, but it quickly evaporated once the two teams came out of the locker room. Nigeria got off to an 11-0 run to start the third quarter, killing both the momentum Canada had brought into the half and any realistic hopes they had of advancing.
Canada suffered a 75-54 loss earlier in the tournament to hosts France in their first group stage game, while falling 70-65 to Australia in their second contest of the tournament.
The Canadian women were hoping for a better result than Tokyo 2020 when they finished ninth in the tournament, but have to be disappointed with how things shook out. Their best-ever finish at an Olympic Games came in 1984 in Los Angeles where they finished fourth, while they’ve won bronze medals at the FIBA Women’s World Cup in 1979 and 1986.
The Canadian men, however, will have a decent shot at a medal. They’re taking on Victor-Wembanyama-led France on Tuesday in the quarterfinal, with tip-off set for 12 pm ET/9 am PT.