Canada advances to women’s quarterfinals with win against unbeaten China

DUBAI – Kady Dandeneau and Cindy Ouellet each scored 22 points as Canada advanced to the quarterfinals with a must-win 54-50 victory over previously unbeaten China on Friday to conclude women’s preliminary round action at the IWBF World Wheelchair Basketball Championships.

The Canadian men played their quarterfinal on Friday and lost to the Netherlands 68-53.

In the Group B women’s standings, China remained first at 4-1 followed by Spain, Australia and Canada, all 3-2 with Canada ranking fourth. Great Britain was 2-3 and Brazil 0-5. The top-four in each of the two groups advanced to Saturday’s final eight.

“For us to come out and compete today was awesome,” said Canada’s women’s head coach Marni Abbott-Peter. “We executed the game plan perfectly. At the end of the game, when it got tight, we kept our composure, did what we needed, and ended up with the win.”

The Canadians held the lead for a big chunk of the game gaining an 8-6 advantage on Elodie Tessier’s score in the first quarter. Canada led 14-10 after the first quarter, 25-22 at the half and 45-40 after three. They only relinquished the lead with 3:45 left when Suili Lin put China ahead 50-48.

But Tara Llanes tied it 43 seconds later on a pass from Tessier after Ouellet recovered an offensive rebound.  Dadeneau, third in tournament scoring, then hit four straight free throws, two with 2:26  remaining and two more with 0:15 seconds left to seal the win.

“It was a really good fight till the end,” said Ouellet, who added nine rebounds and three assists. “We stayed composed and helped each other even on the bench, the coaching staff – we helped each other to stay composed, and that was the difference at the end.”

Team Canada will now play the Netherlands, the reigning world and Paralympic champions, in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 4:15 a.m. ET. The Dutch are undefeated in this tournament.

The Canadian women were fifth at both the last worlds in 2018 and the 2020 Paralympic Games.

On the men’s side, the Netherlands, which did not qualify for the 2020 Games, continued to be unbeaten at the tournament with its fifth win. Canada will face Australia in the five to-eight bracket playoff at 10:45 a.m. ET on Saturday.

The Canadians were 12^th at the last worlds and eighth at the Paralympics.

Nik Goncin was Canada’s top scorer with 22 points while Pat Anderson added 11.

The Dutch were relentless from start to finish leading 21-13 after one quarter, 38-24 at the half and 49-36 after three.

All Canadian games are available on the CBC streaming channels.