Team Canada's last stop on the Road to Rio is also its first chance to play as a unit.

There's anticipation the air as Canada joins three other Brazil-bounded teams this week in the 2016 USA Basketball Showcase, mere days before the opening of the Summer Games.

Natalie Achonwa and Kia Nurse, two players that were a big part of Canada's Olympic-qualifying performance last summer, will be playing with the national team for the first time in 2016.

The exhibition tournament begins Wednesday, when Team Canada tips off against Australia in Newark, Del.. They then travel to Bridgeport, Conn., for a match-up Friday with host Team USA, the five-time defending Olympic champs. Canada concludes its schedule on Sunday, meeting France at New York's historic Madison Square Garden.

Currently ranked ninth by FIBA, Canada owns recent victories against all three opponents. Canada defeated the United States, FIBA's top-ranked team, in the gold medal game of the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, and beat Australia (FIBA No. 2) and France (No. 4) on back-to-back days at an exhibition tournament in France this June.

The Showcase serves as a final tune-up for the Olympic women's basketball tournament, which gets underway on Aug. 6, when Canada plays China at 1:15 p.m. EST.. Team Canada will play four more preliminary round games in Group B, against Senegal, Serbia, Spain, and the U.S.A.

Team Canada qualified for its second consecutive Olympic Games by winning gold at the FIBA Americas Championship in Edmonton last August. Canada advanced to the quarterfinal round at the London Games four years ago.

2016 USA Basketball Showcase Schedule

(All times eastern)

July 27 at Bob Carpenter Center (Newark, Del.)

• Australia vs. Canada, 5 p.m.
• France vs. United States, 7:30 p.m.

July 29 at Webster Bank Arena (Bridgeport, Conn.)

• Australia vs. France, 4:30 p.m.
• Canada vs. United States, 7 p.m.

July 31 at Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)

• Canada vs. France, 1:30 p.m.
• Australia vs. United States, 4 p.m.

Games will be streamed on https://www.facebook.com/usabasketball/

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