Canadian women fall to Spain at wheelchair basketball world championships

DUBAI, UAE – The Canadian women’s national team dropped a 70-65 decision to Spain on Monday night at the wheelchair basketball world championships.

After being tied through three quarters, Spain outscored Canada 18-13 in the fourth to pull away for the win. The loss drops Canada to 1-1 in group play at the World Championships. The women, fifth at the 2020 Paralympic Games, opened the tournament Saturday with a come from behind 61-56 win over Brazil.

“We missed a few layups, and then we weren’t able to hit our free throws at the end – that’s the difference in the game,” said head coach Marni Abbott-Peter about Monday’s match. “We executed our game plan and did what we wanted to do. It was just a few free throws at the end there; that was the difference. We had a low number of turnovers and handled the ball well.

“A few of our players got in foul trouble a little early, so that made a bit of a difference, but down the stretch, we didn’t hit our free throws.”

Kady Dandeneau paced Canada with a game-high 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Arinn Young added 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Cindy Ouellet and Elodie Tessier each chipped in eight points in the loss.

Heading into Tuesday’s contest against Great Britain (8:30 a.m./ET) on Tuesday., Abbott-Peter said the team needs to be better composed.

“I think we were a little too hyped up at times, and that really affects our shooting and our overall team play,” said Abbott-Peter. “We just need to be a little bit more in control of the tempo of the game and control of our own emotions.”

Complete stats from Monday’s game against Spain can be found here.

On the men’s side, Canada lost to Germany 65-52 on Saturday and defeated Thailand 83-55 on Sunday. The next game for the men is Wednesday against Egypt.

Team Canada’s men’s and women’s games will be carried live on CBC’s streaming channels. Complete information can be found here.

With files from Wheelchair Basketball Canada