(Czech, Republic) – The Canadian women ran out of steam after their fourth quarter comeback against Czech Republic yesterday. Japan controlled the game from beginning to end never allowing Canada to take the lead.  

Fabian McKenzie: "Tough loss today, but it was a great educational experience for our development team. This is Japan's Olympic team and they exposed a lot of our weaknesses, especially on the defensive end, that we need to work on for the rest of the tournament."

Dakota Whyte: "It was a tough game but overall I think it was a great learning experience for all of us today. We will all benefit from playing against a team that will be competing in the Olympics. We will bounce back and get ready for tomorrow's game"

Starting for Canada were Dakota Whyte, Shay Colley, Daneesha Provo, Mauranne Corbin, and Abigail Fogg. Click here for full team roster.

Dakota Whyte had Canada’s game high scoring 13 pts, right behind her with 9 pts was Bridget Carleton. Abigail Fogg also dominated with boards with the game high of 9 rebounds.

Canadian fans were excited after Canada won the tip and scored the first two points of the game. Unfortunately, this would be the only lead they held for the rest of the game. Japan was shooting 35% the first quarter which was 16% more than Canada’s 19%. Canada did manage to keep them off the boards out rebounding them 3-7.  

In the 2nd Japan kept pushing and capitalizing off the Canadians mistakes, scoring 15 points from Canadian turnovers, 14 from fast breaks and 5 from second chances. Canada never gave up and kept the intensity throughout, causing both teams to be in foul trouble. Canada’s bench also stepped up this game out scoring Japans bench 10-8.

In the 3rd quarter Canada attacked the basket creating foul shot opportunities, they shot 78% from the foul line scoring 7/9. Japan was 100% from the foul line but only scored 1/1. Japan only barely won the quarter scoring 20 points to Canada’s 16.

The final quarter was very competitive for both teams Japan scored 17 points and Canada scored 16 points. Canada could not recover from the initial deficit the game finished 81-49 for Japan.

Final Box Score

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