(Toronto, Ont. August 23, 2014) – If there was any doubt of the skill of the upcoming World Championship for Women’s host nation, Turkey dispelled the notion with a wire-to-wire 51-33 victory over Canada on day two of the Zafer Cup.

Tamara Tatham (Brampton, Ont.) led the way for Team Canada, logging 10 points and five rebounds in the effort. Miranda Ayim (Chatham, Ont.) and Ruth Hamblin (Houston, BC) each added seven rebounds, helping Canada win the rebounding battle, 41 to 34.

Canada struggled out of the gate, scoring only eight points in the game’s first 15 minutes to find themselves trailing by 19 points. To their credit, Canada would play even with their strong, Turkish opponents for the rest of the game but with an early deficit, the damage was already done.

Neither team shot the lights out, with Canada shooting 29.4% from the field and Turkey only slightly better at 36.1%. Curiously, though Tatham led the game in scoring, the Turkish side produced a very balanced effort with six players scoring between five and eight points and only one player logging more than 20 minutes of play.

Both teams are looking to take the momentum gained during the Zafer Cup into the World Championship next month. A big performance could see Canada continue to climb from 8th in world-rankings, while Turkey could see their burgeoning program leap into the top-10 from 13th overall.

Team Canada will find themselves up against a familiar opponent in Team Brazil tomorrow, August 24, at 9:45 A.M. EST; this will be the fourth time this summer that representatives of the two nation’s will face each other in senior women’s basketball, Canada having swept Brazil 3-0 at the inaugural Edmonton Grads International Classic in June.

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