USA post record-breaking Semi-Finals win against Canada

SYDNEY (Australia) – USA stormed into their sixth FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Final in seven editions after completing a record breaking 83-43 shutdown of Canada.

A number or historical records tumbled including USA completing the biggest winning margin ever in the competition for a Semi-Finals, beating their previous highest figure of 36.

They also held Canada to the lowest ever points tally in the Semi-Finals, a whole 10 points lower than the 53 scored by Korea against Russia in 2002.

 

Turning point: Quite simply, there wasn't one. The USA scored the first 15 points of the game and never had cause to look back. Prior to the Semi-Finals, Canada had never trailed by more than 6 points in any of the games. After the first period, they were down 27-7 with their tally matching their lowest ever in a quarter in the competition. Meanwhile the 20 points difference at the end of the first period was also the biggest deficit for Canada in any quarter of game in the competition during the 21st century.

Game Heroes: Breanna Stewart scored more triples than she has in a previous FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup game with 4 of 5 from downtown en-route to 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 assists. Meanwhile teammate A’Ja Wilson posted a power-packed double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds.

 

Stats Don’t Lie: Canada shot 16 of 73 which is 22 percent and you won’t win any basketball games with that – let alone against a red hot favorite defending their title.

Nirra Fields and her teammates struggled offensively

Bottom Line: Canada really needed a positive start to build confidence, but they had the opposite and that lack of early fire seemed to impact them, since things never really improved. Now they must pick themselves up for the Third Place Game and the chance of a medal. As for USA, they are a brutal and unrelenting defensive force in this tournament. Their active and suffocating defense means whoever they play in the Final will have to do something special to cause a massive upset. The reigning champions look locked in, loaded and ready to ride their way to an 11th title. It was an awesome display.

They said: "That’s the beauty of USA basketball, we aren’t together for long but we know our goal and that’s winning gold. We put everything aside and we just have fun with it. It’s just really locked in to be cohesive and having chemistry and we just let our talents do the rest.

"Our defense is huge. Sometimes the ball might not go through the hoop but our defense is always going to be there and thats what wins you gold medals and thats what wins you championships at the end of the day. With us we’re all like-minded when it comes to playing defense." USA forward, A'Ja Wilson

"A lot of people on this on team have never played in the World cup before and we know that there’s the change of the guards, there’s different personnel on this team, but you have a duty and a responsibility to come out every night and support USA basketball the way its supposed to be represented. You know the history of USA basketball and there’s a lot of effort to winning, whether it’s practice games or practice with each other, we’re going to win. It’s super exciting and fun and a new age for us, so we’re super excited." USA guard, Jewell Loyd

FIBA