HEADLINE

- Canada is going for gold after their 77-49 semifinal victory over Puerto Rico on Sunday night in the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship 2023 in Yucatán, Mexico.

HOW IT HAPPENED

- Canada took the early lead against Puerto Rico in the semifinals going on a 9-0 run, with Deniya Prawl contributing an early five points.

- However, Puerto Rico slowly responded, eventually tying the game at 11 with three minutes left to force a Canada timeout. The two teams would trade baskets until the end of the quarter when Chance Berry made a layup with five seconds to give Canada a 19-17 lead.

- The opening minutes of the second quarter saw Puerto Rico take the lead 27-22 at the 8:22 mark. Coming out of a timeout, with 7:42 left in the quarter, the Canadians still saw themselves down a few points. 

- However, Savannah Swords made a layup at 5:53 to tie the game at 31 points, and the teams went back and forth on shots until Canada started to pull away in the final minute of the first half. Eirny Erinugha hit a jump shot, shortly followed by another jump shot from Jayda Queeley to give Canada the 46-41 advantage at halftime.

- Canada began the third quarter on a 12-4 run against Puerto Rico, but it wasn’t until the 5:29 mark that Canada got a double-digit lead off of a layup by Prawl.

- With 3:28 left in the third, Cearah Parchment made two free throws to bring Canada’s lead to 15 points. The lead only grew from there. Canada outscored Puerto Rico 18-6 in the third to give the Canadians a 64-47 lead at the end of the quarter.

- Canada held Puerto Rico to only two points in the fourth quarter. While the Canadians themselves only scored 13 points, Canada wasn’t going to relinquish the lead. As the final buzzer sounded, Canada proudly celebrated their win.

CANADA HIGHLIGHTS

- Swords had an extremely productive first half, scoring 13 points on 5/7 shooting from the field, along with seven rebounds and three assists. The Sudbury, Ont. product finished the game with 20 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

- With 4:10 left in the third quarter, Berry found an open Swords under the net, who finished with an easy hook shot. The bucket helped Canada take a 13-point lead and force a Puerto Rico timeout.

- Despite Canada’s poor three-point shooting night, the team found other ways to dominate Puerto Rico. Canada outscored Puerto Rico 52-14 in the paint, 15-2 in second-chance points and 12-2 in fast break points. 

<center><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtqNdagMSjn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtqNdagMSjn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"><div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div><div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"><div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; 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HISTORY FILE

- With this win, Canada remains undefeated against Puerto Rico since the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship began in 2009. 

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🇨🇦 Eirny Erinugha 🤝 Chance Berry 🤝 Savannah Swords 🇨🇦 🟰 🎟️ Final!. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAU16Americas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAU16Americas</a> I <a href="https://twitter.com/CanBball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CanBball</a> I <a href="https://twitter.com/NextGenHoops?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NextGenHoops</a><a href="https://t.co/0nRJIO7fBX">pic.twitter.com/0nRJIO7fBX</a></p>&mdash; FIBA en español (@FIBA_es) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBA_es/status/1670644055502471170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

NEXT UP

- The victory over Puerto Rico locked up a Canada vs. United States matchup in Monday night's gold medal game.

- Canada will look to dethrone the Americans, who have won seven of the eight FIBA U16 Women's Americas Championships since the tournament was established in 2009. Canada is the lone other country to win the tournament after defeating Brazil 72-71 in 2015's gold medal game.

- Despite the 2015 gold medal, Canada will be looking for their first victory over USA in the history of the FIBA U16 Women's Americas.

- Tip-off in Monday night's gold medal game is scheduled for 10 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT and fans can stream the game live on the FIBA YouTube Channel.

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