Canada (2-0) vs. Japan (1-1)

When: Sunday, Feb. 9 12:05 P.M. ET (6:05 P.M. local)

Where: Versluys Dôme – Ostend, Belgium

Watch: CBC, CBC Gem, DAZN (Canada), ESPN + (USA)

Tokyo bound: The Senior Women’s National Team is headed to Tokyo. Thanks to a dominant 80-50 victory against Sweden on Saturday, Team Canada has qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Women’s Basketball Competition. This is the third consecutive Olympic Games for the Senior Women’s National Team.

Closing time: Sunday’s game against Japan will be Canada’s final of three games in Belgium at the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Japan is ranked 10th in the FIBA World Ranking Presented by Nike.

Where to watch: CBC Sports will broadcast all three of Canada’s games and have pre-game, halftime and post-game shows hosted by Andi Petrillo, featuring analysis from two-time Canadian Olympic national team player Lizanne Murphy and former national team player/coach and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame member Bev Smith.

Fans can also catch the action streaming live in Canada on DAZN and the CBC Gem app.  ESPN+ will carry Canada’s games in the United States.

Things to know heading into Game 3 against Sweden:

Balanced effort: As usual, Saturday’s victory was a group effort for Team Canada. While Natalie Achonwa led the way with a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds (while shooting 8-for-9 from the floor), Canada had four players finish in double figures with Kia Nurse and Miranda Ayim scoring 10 points apiece and Shaina Pellington adding 11 points. Canada’s bench was especially huge, outscoring Sweden’s reserves 43-9 in the win as 11 of 12 players got on the scoreboard for the Canadians.

Seeing it through: Though Canada has now qualified for the Olympics, they still want to finish out this tournament strong. “Our mentality is the same,” Natalie Achonwa said. “We came in wanting to win every game in this tournament and we will keep that mentality going forward .”

Canada will enter Sunday’s match up against Japan as the lone undefeated team in the tournament. After defeating Sweden on Thursday, Japan fell to Belgium 92-84 on Saturday. Belgium’s Emma Meesseman had 23 points in the win while Japan’s Saki Hayashi had 24 points in the loss. With Japan serving as host country of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, they have already qualified for the Women’s Basketball Competition.

“It’s a start to Tokyo now,” Achonwa said. “[Sunday’s game is] an opportunity we don't get all the time, to play a different style of basketball. It’s a great prep game and Japan is looking at it the same way. I think it’s going to be a competitive game and a game we would love to use to prepare for Tokyo.”

Whatever it takes: Though the first half of Canada’s 30-point win against Sweden was close, with Canada leading by only six at the break, the second half was a different story.

Canada came out after the half ready to go on both ends of the floor, building an 18-point lead after three, then opening the fourth on a 17-3 run. They finished outscoring Sweden 43-19 in the second half. Canada had 12 first-half turnovers, but finished with just 15 for the game after settling in and taking care of the ball in the second. In addition to Canada’s bench outscoring Sweden’s reserves 43-9, Canada also had a 16-2 advantage in second-chance points and won the battle of the boards 45-25, including 14-8 on the offensive glass. As the game went on, Canada’s defensive pressure intensified while the team remained aggressive offensively.

Prior to play beginning in Belgium, head coach Lisa Thomaidis said that each game would be important for her team and that they were eager to see what they could do with their full roster on hand. Through two of three contests so far, the results have been pretty impressive.

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