Canada beats Mali 88-65 at 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup

Bridget Carleton (Lorie Shaull, Wikimedia Commons)

Team Canada has entered the quarterfinals of the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia on a winning note. On Tuesday, Canada trounced Mali 88-65 to finish Group B action with a record of four wins and one loss. That was good enough for second place in the group.

Four Canadians reached double digits in scoring. Minnesota Lynx guard Bridget Carleton of Chatham-Kent, Ontario led the way with 27 points. Center Kayla Alexander of Milton, Ontario had 19 points, while Phoenix Mercury guard Kia Nurse of Hamilton, Ontario and guard Aislinn Konig of Vancouver, British Columbia had 11 points each. Alexander led Team Canada with 14 rebounds as she collected the double-double. Alexander, Shay Colley of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Natalie Achonwa of Toronto, Ontario all had four assists to lead the Canadian squad.

Canada will now play Puerto Rico in one of four quarterfinal games on Thursday. The other three quarterfinal games have the United States versus Serbia, Australia versus Belgium and China versus France.

Only twice before has Canada won a medal at the FIVA Women’s Basketball World Cup. They finished  in third place, thus won the bronze medal, in South Korea in 1979, and then the Soviet Union in 1986. In 1979, Canada beat Australia 66-57 in the bronze medal game, and in 1986, Canada beat Czechoslovakia 64-59 in the bronze medal game.

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