Montreal--.In the final games of the Canada Basketball Summer Series 2000, the Canadian national women and men's basketball teams were defeated by Cuba and Brazil, respectively.

The Cuban national women's basketball team exerted their physical strength on Canada and took the lead from the start of the game. The halftime score was 38-27.

In the second half, Cuba continued their run. The final score was 66-48 in favour of Cuba and gave them the series, two games to one.

"Cuba is much more physical and we'll have to work harder," said head coach Bev Smith. "Cuba will do a lot of things that others teams won't do. You have to be very composed but you have to defend yourself. They're a tough, tough team."

Tammy Sutton-Brown (Markham, ON) led the Canadian squad with 11 points.

The team will continue to train in Toronto at Humber College for the remainder of this week.

In the final match on the men's side, Canada lost to Brazil for the first time on this tour, 74-73. This heated battle featured a brawl on the court and went down to the wire.

Brazil led at halftime 40-34, but Canada came right back in the second half. With about five minutes remaining in the game, the pressure peaked when a Brazilian player knocked Greg Newton, Niagara Falls, ON, after a dunk. A melee ensued and three players were ejected from the game. Once the game started again, Brazil had closed the game and it became a very tense finish.

In the end Brazil prevailed to win their first game of the series.

Steve Nash, Victoria, BC led Canada with 18 points and eight assists. Newton followed with 17 points and seven boards.

The men's team will re-group in August in Vancouver for their final training phase before the Olympics.

Back to Basketball Index