Canada wins silver in thriller final at wheelchair basketball world championships

OTTAWA – Canada came within one point of a world title Saturday, falling 77-76 to the United States in a dramatic women’s final at the wheelchair basketball world championships.

It was the Americans’ first women’s world title since 2010, while Canada collected its first medal at the event since 2014 when it won gold in Toronto.

‘’I knew it was going to come down to the wire, but I just had us coming out on top,’’ said Arinn Young who posted a triple-double with 30 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. ‘’That’s basketball, that’s life.’’

Kady Dandeneau, on the floor for all 40 minutes, led the Canadian attack with 34 points.  Lindsey Zurbrugg paced the Americans with 26 points.

The Americans went on an 8-0 run with less than five minutes remaining to pull ahead 71-64 with 4:06 to play.

Canada battled back, and Dandeneau’s fourth straight bucket tied the game 76-76 with 39 seconds remaining, sending thousands of Canadian fans into a frenzy at TD Place.

However, Canada was assessed a personal foul with five seconds to go and Ixhelt Gonzalez sank one of her two free throws to assure the American win.

Canada produced a strong opening quarter and led 27-20 after 10 minutes.

‘’We definitely came out swinging in the first half then the USA made some changes,’’ said Young. ‘’We kind of struggled a bit from there. We still had a lot of fight and potentially had a chance to win it.’’

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Canada’s head coach Joey Johnson, a former member of the men’s national wheelchair team, took the helm in May and brought a renewed focus.

‘’He’s been re-enforcing the fundamentals,’’ said Dandeneau, from Pender Island, B.C.  ‘’That’s so critical to have something to build on. With that, our young players made so much improvement, played huge minutes here and were like veterans.’’

There were four national team rookies on the 12-member Canadian squad.

U.S. head coach Jeremy Lade says Canada reached another level at these worlds.

‘’The Canadian team is elite,’’ he said. ‘’They have a phenomenal group of scorers. They have a great coaching staff and are doing great things. 

‘’This is not the last time we’re going to see Canada fighting for gold medals.’’

Australia will play Italy later in the men’s gold medal game.

In the bronze medal games, the Netherlands defeated Great Britain 63-50 in the women’s competition while the British men beat Germany 67-56.