Recap The Court

Photo by FIBA

Jacob Smith

The Canadian Women’s National Team started their 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup journey on Sunday night when they went up against the hosts in Mexico. Canada came away with a 83-57 convincing victory, and names up and down the roster shined.

Let’s start with who opened up the game for the rest of the team, and that is Kayla Alexander with a splash of Yvonne Ejim. If you watched the game there was no secret that Canada’s work inside the paint was the cornerstone of their success. How Kayla was able to work around the rim, offensively in the first half and more defensively in the second half, gave space for others to move around the floor, and gave Canada a constant to go to when they needed to find rhythm.

Canada opened up a 23-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, and as the first half went on, Yvonne Ejim started to make her impact offensively. The space provided around the rim gave Ejim the opportunity to use footwork and great finishes to keep the Canada offence chugging. Though Canada was outscored 14-11 in the second, they still held a 34-21 lead at halftime.

Canada had four players finish in double digits in the tournament opener, and Nirra Fields and Shay Colley made a massive impact in the second half to be two of those four. They seemed to be lightning bolts for Canada when they wanted to change up their play to throw off the defence of Mexico, and Colley’s four point play in the second half to answer a three from Luna of Mexico, was the perfect example of that.

When Canada started to get swarmed inside the paint, there was always a moving Colley or Fields to give the responsibilities to, and the depth of the Canada roster was on full effect never giving Mexico a break.

Their pressure on defence was one more thing to note in this game. Though Mexico had their share of shots that probably should’ve went in, what has become a signature of this Canadian women’s program in their full court pressure defensively, definitely made Mexico’s night long. They forced 20 turnovers, winning the battle +13, and they constantly held down any Mexico run that could’ve put them ahead in this game.

Canada got the win and moves on to play Puerto Rico at 10:10pm eastern, 7:10pm pacific tomorrow night.