BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Steve Baur likes what he sees so far, but the head coach of Canada's under-18 women's basketball team isn't going to let a perfect pool record blur the big picture.
“We came into the (FIBA Americas Championship) tournament like everyone else, focused on getting ourselves to the podium,” said Baur. "Our first goal was to win our pool."
Canada improved to 3-0 on Wednesday by dunking the host Argentina 89-55 at Estadio Obras Sanitarias in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a day of rest Thursday Canada will face El Salvador.
Canada was led Wednesday by T’yana Todd’s game-high 17-point performance, while Marah Dykstra recorded a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double and Jasmine Bascoe finished with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Mary-Anna Asare added 13 points, while Fatima Diakhaté scored 11 points and Lemyah Hlyton dished seven assists. Emma Koabel finished with nine points and five assists.
“Argentina had a great start and I thought our response to their offence early and the crowd showed great character for us and great resilience," said Baur.
"We shared the ball well. Both Lemyah and Emma had great assist numbers to show that the ball was moving and T’yana Todd continues to make shots for us. Moving forward now to our next step to qualify for worlds.”
Argentina was led by a 14-point performance from Angelina Giacone and 12 points and nine rebounds from Lara Tribouley in the loss as they shot 31 per cent from the floor, but just 21 per cent from three, shooting 4-for-19 from beyond the arc.
Canada shot 39 per cent from the floor and 45 per cent from three, where they connected on 14-of-31 attempts from deep. After going into the halftime break with a 14-point lead, it was Canada’s three-point shooting that broke the game open in the third. Canada outscored Argentina 29-9 in the third quarter as a series of three straight three-pointers from Koabel, Bascoe and Todd forced Argentina into a timeout with 5:56 remaining in the quarter as Canada’s lead swelled to 24 points.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2022
The Canadian Press
