| June 18, 2000 Canadian Women's
Basketball Team gets bronze
in Down Under
(Toronto, ON)...The Canadian national women's basketball
team came out and imposed their style of play on Slovakia and came away with a 55-43
victory to capture the bronze medal at the World Slam Down Under in Sydney, Australia.
Canada's intense defence created difficulties for the
Slovakians and their activity on the boards gave Canada an 18-12 advantage in the first
half.
Offensively, Canada's aggressiveness caused problems for
their opponents and saw their top player Martina Luptakova get three quick fouls. Canada
was in the bonus after only 10 minutes of play and converted seven of nine from the
charity stripe.
The key to the victory was Canada forcing Slovakia to
turnover the ball. They turned these steals into transition points and built a 44-37 lead
with 5:40 remaining in the game.
Canada handled the boards with a 43-36 advantage and scored
26 points in the paint compared to Slovakia's 20.
"This was our first win against an Olympic
opponent," said Bev Smith, Canada's head coach. "We bounced back today from a
tough loss against Australia yesterday. The athletes played very tough defence and our
offensive execution was much improved."
Michelle Hendry, Terrace, BC and Tammy Sutton-Brown,
Markham, ON, led the Canadians with eight points each. Sutton-Brown also pulled down 13
boards. Cal Bouchard, Aurora, ON; Shawna Molcak, Cardston; AB, Stacey Dales; Brockville,
ON and Dianne Norman, Fredericton, NB, all contributed with seven points each.
The Canadian women's team will now stay in Australia to
play an exhibition series with the Australian women's team.
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