Canadian women overcome shaky start to beat Spain at wheelchair basketball worlds

HAMBURG, Germany – Canada put itself in a hole early but dominated the final three quarters to beat Spain 63-34 on Saturday to even its record in women’s competition at the World Wheelchair Basketball Championships. 

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Arinn Young of Legal, Alta., led the Canadian attack with 19 points while Cindy Ouellet of Quebec City added 14 and Kady Dandeneau of Toronto 10. Dandenau was named the player of the game.

“It was a big win and we needed that,” said Dandeneau in a Wheelchair Basketball Canada press release. “It’s a good way to ease ourselves into our next game against Australia. It takes a lot to come back when you go down by 15 points. So, I think that was really good for our team. It brings us all together. Hopefully we can get a good start against Australia because that is where we have been struggling so far in the tournament.”

Spain busted out the gates like wild lions building a 17-2 lead and ending the first quarter ahead 19-8. However the Canadians regained the high ground going on an 11-0 run to open the second quarter and end the first half ahead 29-25.

“We have good players on the bench and who have worked hard all year,’’ said Canadian head coach Marc Antoine Ducharme (Chambly, Que.). ‘’I have a lot of confidence in my bench and today they gave us another boost and different energy that worked well.”

Canada’s record is one win and one loss. On Friday Great Britain beat Canada 64-56. 

The Canadian women are back in action on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. (ET) against Australia. The men, who opened the tournament with an easy win over Morocco on Friday, resume on Sunday against Germany at noon.

Canada’s games will be livestreamed at Facebook.com/CDNParalympics, Facebook.com/wheelchairbasketball, cbcsports.ca and via the CBC Sports app

Team Canada information: http://www.wheelchairbasketball.ca/event/2018-world-wheelchair-basketball-championships/ 

Official website: https://iwbf.org/event/2018-world-championships/