The Canadian senior women's basketball team will face some significant challenges in Friday's quarterfinal against Spain at the FIBA Women's World Cup.
The world's second-ranked squad has a variety of weapons and should be a handful. The host side will also have a vocal home crowd at the Santiago Martin Arena in its corner.
"If we want to be in the conversation of being a medal contender, these are the types of teams that we have to be able to beat," Canadian head coach Lisa Thomaidis said Thursday from Tenerife.
The No. 5 Canadians have reason to be confident after sweeping their pool games to take first place in Group A at 3-0.
The latest victory was a 71-60 decision over third-ranked France on Tuesday, with star guard Kia Nurse leading the way with 18 points. Forward Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds as Canada pulled away late in the game thanks to a 15-0 run.
The top-ranked Americans and No. 4 Australia were the only other teams in the 16-country tournament to post undefeated pool records. The United States will face Nigeria on Friday while Australia meets China.
Belgium will take on France in the other quarterfinal. The semifinals are set for Saturday and the final will be played Sunday.
Spain was 2-1 in pool play — a surprise 72-63 loss to Belgium the lone hiccup — and earned a quarterfinal berth with a 63-48 win over Senegal. Thomaidis expects the host side to continue to use a "high risk, high reward" defence against the Canadians.
"They take a lot of chances on the perimeter," she said on a conference call. "They really put a lot of pressure on the guards. They really try and keep you (from) running your stuff and disrupt you. That's going to be a key for us. I think they're going to have trouble with our speed and athleticism though at our guard spot."
Canada and Spain are virtually tied in field-goal percentage and total rebounds. Canada enters with an edge in three-point shooting percentage (40.4 per cent to 32.2) but Spain has been stronger from the free-throw line (72.9 per cent to 66.2).
"We'll be up for the task for sure," Thomaidis said. "I think this team really relishes a challenge. They know that Spain is ranked No. 2 in the world. We believe that we can be on the court with anyone here."
Spain won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics while Canada settled for a seventh-place finish. The Canadians haven't reached the semifinals at the Women's World Cup since 1986.
In previous meetings, Spain dumped Canada 85-57 at the 2006 women's world championship while Canada posted a 70-65 victory at the 1994 tournament.
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Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
