Spain 73, Canada 60 | Box Score
With an opportunity to draw an easier quarterfinal opponent, avoid the U.S. until a potential gold-medal game, and prove themselves on the level of women’s basketball’s third-ranked program, Canada came up a little short. A long stretch with a paucity of offense allowed Spain to pull away after a tight start, and the Canadians found themselves on the wrong end of a 73-60 decision, instead drawing a more difficult path for the elimination phase of the Olympic tournament.
The first half was bookended by a pair of Spain triples that served to take a bit of wind out of Canada’s sails to start and close, but the time between was filled with Canada playing their trademark terrific defense. Even on the final possession of the half, Canada’s strong full-court pressure, particularly from Nirra Fields, forced Spain to attempt multiple inbounds and throw up a tough, late look.
Canada has quickly made the defensive side of the ball their calling card in this tournament, and they held Spain to 31 percent on twos in the half, switching aggressively on most actions that didn’t involve Astou Ndour and trusting their guards to handle a much larger Spanish outfit. Miah-Marie Langlois, who played a strong game at both ends of the floor, in particular held her own in the post, Natalie Achonwa provided short bursts of quality defense on the block, and Tamara Tatham showed some nice tracking along the perimeter.
The size disadvantage did materialize, though, as Canada’s gang rebounding efforts still left the Spaniards with 10 offensive rebounds in the half and 16 on the night, and Alba Torrens was able to drop 12 of her 20 points early on. The aggressive switching on the likes of Torrens, Laura Gil, and Laura Nicholls also led to a bit of miscommunication when the 6-foot-6 Ndour was present.
Ndour picked up a second foul with a little under four minutes to play in the half, and Canada used her absence as a reason to get back to attacking the rim after the bulk of the half was spent firing from mid-range. With Spain in the bonus – and having picked up a pair of technical fouls to voice their displeasure with that – Canada was able to pick up a few late free-throw attempts to help keep the gap reasonable. Kia Nurse, who’s spent the tournament as a bit of a foul magnet, scored all five of her points in the half and six of her eight for the game at the charity stripe (though she shot 1-of-8 from the field, another off night), and Spain had a tough time protecting the paint to close out.
Prior to that point, getting inside required pulling Ndour from the rim and making some tough passes around her 7-foot-1 wingspan or relying on Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, who had seven points in the half.
Even with the late surge, Canada found themselves down 33-29 entering the break, having shot 37 percent from the floor with a lone triple, a problem since Spain was occasionally zoning up after flashing short-term full-court pressure. Slowing Canada’s offense down was a clear goal for Spain (Canada managed just two fast-break points), and several of Canada’s 10 turnovers in the half came by way of shot-clock violations. Spain would try to speed things up the other way and look for shots early in the clock, but to Canada’s credit, their defense was able to get back and get set, with a few exceptions (live ball turnovers, namely).
Spain came out looking to pull away in the second half and quickly pushed the lead to 10. It looked like there may have been a bit of a momentum shift when Miranda Ayim drew a brutal transition charge on Torrens, but Spain opted to keep Torrens in the game with three fouls, and she quickly scored four unanswered before taking a breather. Ndour, meanwhile, fed off of passes over the heads of fronting Canadian defenders and drew a key third foul on Raincock-Ekunwe, likely Canada’s best option to defend her. Raincock-Ekunwe would switch off Ndour but promptly pick up a fourth, anyway (both sides were permanently unhappy with the oft-ticky-tack officiating in this one).
Achonwa answered the call in a major way at both ends, defending in the post and even beating Ndour one-on-one, Fields hit a few timely buckets to hold the lead at single-digits on her way to a team-high 13 points, and Kim Gaucher hit a huge shot at the buzzer to pull Canada back within two entering the fourth.
Unfortunately, Canada’s inability to create offense became an even bigger issue in the closing frame. Canada didn’t manage to get on the board until the 4:34-mark, and during that drought Spain was able to add 11 points to push the lead to 13. Nurse was finally, mercifully able to get to the line to end the dry-spell, but at that point the game was too far beyond reach. Canada continued to push and fight, eventually hitting a few baskets, but they just don’t have the firepower to close out a double-digit lead in just a few minutes (their 18-point comeback against Serbia was far more of a slow-burn).
Canada finished the game shooting 36 percent (and 1-of-11 on threes) with 17 turnovers, numbers that just won’t hold against a team as good as Spain. They managed to hold Spain to 35 percent from the floor in kind, but the Spaniards took 33 trips to the line, a major swing factor.
The loss wasn’t entirely unexpected, with Spain entering as a six-point favorite, but this had the makings of a potential statement game for the Canadians. Spain is above them in the perceived women’s basketball pecking order, and Canada had at times in this tournament looked like they may be ready to stake a claim at the sport’s second tier. Canada surely would have liked to send a message here, though in the larger scheme, the games to come will speak louder, anyway.
After finishing 3-2 in group play, Canada still has plenty of opportunity ahead. By virtue of losing this game, they finish third in Group B and draw France, rather than Turkey, in the quarterfinals. Looking forward, it also means Canada will be on the U.S. side of the bracket, drawing the Americans in the semifinals, should they topple France. Canada has a day off before Tuesday’s meeting with France, and they’ll need to spend that time figuring out how to avoid long stretches of frigid offense – they’ve shown they can defend good teams very well, but France was an above-average defensive outfit, too.
Tuesday’s going to be a grind. It might also be the biggest game in the last 30-plus years of the program, short of maybe last year’s FIBA Americas final. (The time of the game is still to be determined.)
