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PARIS – Canada’s record in women’s 3×3 basketball at the Olympics has fallen to 3-3 after losing twice in overtime to the United States and Spain on Friday.
The Canadians lost twice in both games on a buzzer-beater.
In the season opener, Rhyne Howard, who plays for the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, scored a two-pointer as time expired in overtime, giving the US (3-3) an 18-17 win.
Canada scored first in overtime on a short-range shot from Edmonton’s Katherine Plouffe, before Howard, who was 0-of-5 from long range in regulation time, scored the winning basket.
“Good step-back. She got some space,” Plouffe said of the winning shot.
She added that the loss did not shake Canada’s confidence.
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“They are all good teams here, and we don’t expect to finish (out of the group stage) 7-0,” Plouffe said.
“We know we are a solid team, and everyone is afraid to play against us.”
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But Canada was dealt more heartache in the final game of the day, when Spain’s Sandra Ygueravide scored a two-pointer near the end of the game in a 22-20 overtime win over Canada.
Michelle Plouffe, Katherine’s twin sister, scored 11 points in the lost game, the most of the game.
She scored a basket, followed by a free throw, to give Canada a 19-18 lead with 31 seconds left on the clock.
But Ygueravide made a two-pointer seconds later to give Spain the lead. Plouffe forced overtime when she made a layup to tie the score at 20-20 with 15 seconds left.
Ygueravide made four two-pointers in a game in which Spain scored 6 of 12 times from beyond the three-point line.
“They’re a seasoned team. We’ve battled with them for years, so we knew it was going to be a battle, and I’m really proud of our effort,” said Paige Crozon, of Lethbridge, Alta., who had three points for Canada.
“I think we could have cleaned up some of their offensive rebounds, but I think we were so strong defensively, and the fight we got was really physical. We got hit from the bottom and unfortunately we didn’t get the calls tonight, but we were able to be resilient and fight back.”
Spain improved to 4-2 and is now second behind Germany (5-1) in the preliminary round.
Canada, which is in fifth place in the eight-team competition, closes out its group stage match on Saturday against Azerbaijan (2-4).
The top two teams in the pool advance to the semi-finals, while the next four teams play play-in matches on Saturday.
The tournament concludes on Monday with the semi-finals and medal matches.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 2, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
