ISTANBUL (Mar. 17, 2026) — Canada closed out the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament with an 82–76 loss to Australia on Tuesday at the Turkcell Basketball Development Center in Istanbul.

With the result, Canada finishes the tournament with a 2–3 record, placing fifth and missing out on one of four qualifying spots for this summer’s FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin.

Australia remains undefeated to finish first in the group, followed by Hungary in second, with Türkiye and Japan securing the final two qualifying positions. Argentina finished sixth.

Canada entered the day needing a combination of results to advance but was officially eliminated following Japan’s win over Argentina earlier in the day, combined with Australia’s win over Canada and Hungary’s victory over Türkiye.

Despite the loss, Canada remained within striking distance throughout a tightly contested game that featured multiple lead changes. Australia pulled ahead for good midway through the third quarter, using an 8–2 run to create separation and maintain control down the stretch.

Kayla Alexander delivered a dominant performance for Canada, finishing with a game-high 26 points on 12-of-16 shooting while adding 13 rebounds for a double-double.

“I thought Kayla just played her tail off today, and it was just a sight to watch,” said Nell Fortner. “She was just really, really good.

“But defensively, we had some breakdowns there at the end. They got us on several offensive boards to get second-chance points and then hit threes off of them at times, and that was really kind of backbreaking for us.”

Bridget Carleton added 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting in Tuesday’s contest.

Aaliyah Edwards, who was named to the tournament’s All-Star Five, averaged 12.6 points per game on 61 per cent shooting, along with nine rebounds per game, narrowly missing a double-double average for the tournament.

Australia was led by Sami Whitcomb, who scored 23 points and knocked down all five of her attempts from beyond the arc.

“Australia is a really good team. They run a really solid offence and make it difficult to guard them, but I thought we played hard and gave ourselves an opportunity to win that game and just couldn’t come out with it.”

Fortner also acknowledged the tournament organizers.

“I thought the tournament was really well run — from where we stayed, to the food we ate, to the transportation. Türkiye did a great job, FIBA did a great job. So thank you for that.”

Alexander echoed the team’s sentiment following the loss.

“Australia is a really great, talented team. They were hitting their shots today, and we just struggled to get out to their threes — that really hurt us,” said Alexander. “But I believe that we competed. We played hard. It just wasn’t enough to get the job done today.”

Reflecting on the overall tournament, Alexander pointed to the lessons ahead.

“I feel like we played hard. There’s a couple games that you wish you could get back, a couple possessions that we wish we could get back to get into this position,” she said. “We had a great opportunity to close the deal for ourselves today, and unfortunately just couldn’t do it.

“We just have to figure out a way to turn those close games into wins. I think this is a great learning experience for this team. There’s a lot that we can take away from this to hopefully improve, get better and keep growing.”

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