The Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team will play for a bronze medal on Sunday when they face China at the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Canada was edged 72-61 by the Netherlands in a hard-fought battle in Friday’s semifinal matchup.
Team Canada already played China in pool play on August 29, coming up short in a close five-point game.
Sunday’s game tips off at 1:30 a.m. PT (CBC Gem app)
“Arguably, this is the toughest position in sport when you lose a chance to play for a gold medal and then have to turn around and play for a bronze,” said head coach Michele Sung, “but it’s a great opportunity to podium, and I think that they’re more than ready, and that was the goal coming into this.”
Canada beat China 54-50 during group play at the IWBF World Championships last summer and is well-prepared for what to expect heading into Sunday’s bronze medal meeting.
“We want to take it to China, and the great thing is, we’ve already played them in pool play, so we know exactly what we need to do,” said Tara Llanes. “We just need to go out there and execute. We know they’re going to press us, and we know what that looks like, so we just need to get this out of our system, go into the bronze medal game, and be out for blood.”
Arinn Young paced Canada with a game-high 29 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. Former UNBC Timberwolf Kady Dandeneau added 24 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while Rosalie Lalonde chipped in six points, four rebounds and three assists.
Despite falling behind 8-0 and 16-3 early in the first quarter, Canada showed resiliency and bounced back with a 13-0 run from the end of the first period through the second quarter, leading 35-33 at halftime.
“We prepped for a bunch of possibilities, and I thought it was great that we were able to adapt,” Sung said. “Great progress in that category, for sure.”
Dandeneau, a 34-year-old native of Pender Harbour, paced Canada with 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists at the break. Young added 13 points, seven assists and three rebounds.
Team Canada shot 13 of 29 in the half and scored 11 points off Netherlands turnovers.
“From where we were to where we are now, we’ve been resilient this entire tournament,” Llanes added. “It doesn’t matter if we get behind by four, six, or maybe even eight points – we are not giving up. I think before, that’s the team we were. That’s what I’m the proudest of about this team; we have so many threats.”
Meanwhile, in men’s wheelchair basketball, Team Canada will compete for Paralympic bronze when it faces Germany on Saturday at 7 a.m. PT (CBC TV, CBC Gem app).
The Canadian men dropped an 80-43 decision to the United States in Thursday’s semifinals in Paris.
Patrick Anderson had a team-high 16 points, six rebounds and five assists. Garrett Ostepchuk added 10 points, and Colin Higgins chipped in nine points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Former UNBC student Bo Hedges of Fort St. John, 47, is also playing for the Canadian team.
Team Canada was limited to 18 of 55 shooting in the loss, while the Americans finished at 60 per cent from the field.
