September 20, 2003
CBC SPORTS ONLINE

Canadian women miss out on Olympic hoops spot

There won't be any basketball teams representing Canada at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The Canadian women's team had its hopes for an Olympic berth crushed after falling 71-65 to Brazil in the semifinal of the FIBA Americas Olympic qualification tournament in Culiacan, Mexico, on Saturday.

"I'm very proud of the effort our team put forth this evening", said Canadian women's basketball head coach Allison McNeill.

"We played extremely hard and extremely well this evening against a very talented Brazilian team."

Brazil had a slim four-point edge at the half, 40-36.

After Brazil went on a third-quarter run, the Canadians shaved the lead back to four at 58-54 in the fourth. But that's as close as they would get.

Janeth Dos Santos paced the Brazilian attack with 31 points and nine rebounds. She was a precise 10-for-13 from the field and a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line.

"Our team defence was simply outstanding but unfortunately we didn't have an answer for Janet (Dos Santos)", said McNeill.

WNBA star Tammy Sutton-Brown of Markham, Ont., and Cal Bouchard of Aurora, Ont., each counted 12 points in a losing effort for Canada.

The Canadian women's squad did participate at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, finishing 10th.

with files from Canadian Press

reprinted with permission