BOXSCORE

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (June 13, 2022) - The Canadian U18 Women’s National Team kicked off their entry at the FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championships 2022 with a dominant 68-40 victory against Mexico in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Monday.

Canada was led by a 16-point performance from T’yana Todd, including 14 in the first half as Canada built a 14-point halftime lead.

“It’s always important to get off to a good start in the tournament,” Team Canada head coach Steve Baur said. “We were really excited to get started with a win. The game started and I think there’s a bit of an adjustment. We got our first exposure to international basketball a little slower than we would have liked, but T’yana hit a couple of big shots for us in the first half. We were able to take that momentum, get some stops on defence and then get some energy going into the second half. We’re looking to use this to build us into the rest of the tournament.”

In addition to Todd’s big night, Lemyah Hylton had 11 points and six rebounds, while Jasmine Bascoe stuffed the stat sheet, finishing with 10 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Marah Dykstra also had a team-high 11 rebounds in the win.

“My shot was pretty on,” Todd said of the first half. “I was just feeling it and kept on shooting.

“The key to us winning this game was to really play defence and not take our opponents for granted,” Todd added. “And to keep playing Team Canada basketball.”

This was a methodical victory for Canada who won all four quarters, building the lead from two points after the first quarter, to 12 at the half, to 21 heading into the fourth. Mexico scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, but Hylton got Canada back on the board with a layup and Koabel scored on a three, making it 62-38 with 5:35 remaining. Canada rolled to the victory from there, outsourcing Mexico 13-6 in the quarter.

Canada shot 30 percent in the game. While they made just 29 percent of their two-point field goals, Canada shot 33 percent from beyond the arc where they finished 10-for-30 from deep. In comparison, Mexico had just one make from three in the game, making one of 19 attempts from beyond the arc. Mexico finished the game shooting 25 percent from the floor.

The Canadians held a 66-48 advantage on the boards, including a 24-12 edge on the offensive glass, while Canada’s bench outscored Mexico’s reserves 34-8. Canada led for all but 39 seconds, and scored 19 points off of Mexico’s 24 turnovers in the game.

“I thought we started off slow, but really picked it up in the second half,” Todd said. “Our defence then led to offence which is what really separated us.”

After leading by 12 at the half, Canada took complete control in the third after a steal and layup from Bascoe extended Canada’s lead to 16 and forced Mexico into a timeout with 4:04 remaining in the quarter. Bascoe’s second three of the game, off of a feed from Skylar Forbes, extended the advantage to 19 points. On Canada’s final bucket of the quarter, it was Bascoe returning the favour and assisting Forbes on a layup that made the lead 21 heading into the fourth.

Up next for Canada is a meeting with Brazil on Tuesday, June 14 at 5 p.m. ET.

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