The Canadian Women’s 3x3 team are into the FIBA 3x3 World Cup quarterfinal. After defeating Mongolia and Hungary on Thursday, Canada finished atop the Group C standings in pool play. A bucket from Katherine Plouffe with 12 seconds remaining against Hungary broke a three-way, 3-1 tie with the United States and Czech Republic.

“We really fought for that first seed,” Michelle Plouffe said. “We did it the hard way, if we just won all of our games we would have had it. But that’s okay, we still got the one seed which is huge. We don't have to play the play-in game and just go straight to the quarters. We don't know who we’re going to play yet, but our team has done a great job prepping us with game plan and video and really giving us confidence to play to our strengths and take away what we can from the other team. They’re going to prep us, we’re going to get prepped mentally and physically and go get ready for the quarters."

In Canada’s first game of the day, Paige Crozon was unstoppable, scoring from all over the floor as she outscored Mongolia by herself, finishing with 11 points. Crozon made three two-point shots and all four of her free throw attempts. The Canadians dominated on the boards, out rebounding Mongolia 13-6 as K. Plouffe grabbed six boards of her own.

“Mongolia is a really good team,” Crozon said. “They’re really scrappy, they like to take a lot of two-point shots and then chase the ball down, but with the help of Coach Kim [Gaucher], I felt we were really prepared going into the game, had a good game plan of trying to be deliberate of fighting over screens, take away their two-point shots and then crash the glass hard.”

Defensively, Kacie Bosch was everywhere, finishing with three blocks in the game, as well as an offensive rebound that she tipped to K. Plouffe for an easy bucket inside. After a 5-0 run from Crozon herself, Canada had extended its lead to double figures, 18-8, with 5:12 remaining. A bucket from M. Plouffe put Canada within range for the win and Crozon finished the game as she started it, drilling a two-point shot to give Canada a 21-9 victory with 4:41 remaining on the clock.

“I thought we did a really good job of executing,” Crozon said. “On Day 1 you could tell we were a little bit nervous offensively, we didn't have as much offensive flow and that was an adjustment for today. We were playing a lot looser, a lot more comfortable and we were able to get the looks that we wanted by moving the ball and playing together.”

Canada entered their second game of the day knowing that a win would put them in a three-way tie with the United States and Czech Republic based on their records, and that if they hit the 21-point mark they would win the tiebreaker and finish first in their pool.

With that goal set, the Plouffe sisters went to work. M. Plouffe finished with eight points, four rebounds and six highlights in the game, while K. Plouffe added six points, nine rebounds and four highlights as Canada broke the game open and defeated Hungary 21-9. A late score inside by K. Plouffe to give Canada the victory also gave them the point total they needed to finish top in their group.

After a close few minutes to start, Canada held an 8-4 lead and scored four straight points to stretch the lead to seven before a two-point shot from M. Plouffe made it 14-6 with 3:26 remaining. After another free throw from M. Plouffe and then Crozon grabbing an offensive rebound off of her own miss to score inside, the lead was double figures for the Canadians at 18-8.

A two-point shot from Crozon made it 20-8 for Canada with 1:51 on the clock. After a trio of free throws from Hungary’s Vivi Böröndy, the score was 20-11, but the score was mere formality at that point as K. Plouffe scored inside to end the game, giving Canada the win, and most importantly, the tie-break over the United States to place first in their pool.

“I think going in, we were just trying to get back to how we play, play loose and free,” Team Canada coach Kim Gaucher said. “I thought they did a way better job today. They looked a lot looser. They had a lot of fun and had great movement. They have really big goals and dreams for this World Cup and so it’s just [about] getting into rhythm. I thought they did a great job today.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hoop &amp; the harm beyond the arc! 🏹 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/3x3WC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#3x3WC</a><a href="https://t.co/CpbWGfqITx">pic.twitter.com/CpbWGfqITx</a></p>&mdash; FIBA3x3 (@FIBA3x3) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBA3x3/status/1664260821671895045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

After Pool Play, M. Plouffe is ranked second in scoring with 30 points through four games, trailing only France’s Laetitia Guapo. Bosch finished with five blocks, tying Cameron Brink of the United States for the top spot. K. Plouffe finished fourth in rebounds per game and Crozon was seventh in two-point shots made.

Canada will now have an off day on Friday as they await their quarterfinal opponent who they will face on Saturday, June 3. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. ET/11:20 a.m. PT.