LONDON, ENGLAND– Canada owned a ten point fourth quarter lead, but were unable to hold on as the second ranked Russian women’s basketball team stormed back to win, 58-53. Canada had a lead as large as 12 points during the game, but Russia was able to go on an 18-3 run to end the game.

"We know who we are and humble about what we have to do,” said head coach, Allison McNeill. “Russia showed their experience down the stretch with an 18-3 run and they punished us. We made some mistakes in transition which is not us because we are very good in transition. I am very proud of our team and we still are ready to upset some people."

"We know we are a good team,” said Canadian forward, Kim Smith. “The rest of the world may not know that yet, but we've been building this program for two years and tonight I think we showed that."

Canada was led by a great performance by Kim Smith (Mission, BC) who was able to score 20 points including five 3-pointers in the game.

Russia had a balanced attack with Becky Hammon scoring a team-high 14 points.

In the opening frame, Canada began the game a little tentative while Russia was able to dictate the early part of the game. With the score 10-3, Allison McNeill called a timeout and it seemed to fuel the team. After the timeout, Canada went on a 14-5 run to end the quarter and take the 17-15 lead into the second.

In the second quarter, Canada was able to keep rolling offensively. Canada began the quarter with the 13-3 run to increase their advantage to 12 points, but Russia was able to end the quarter scoring six consecutive points to cut the deficit to 30-24.

In the second half, Canada continued to shoot the ball efficiently and were able to build their lead to ten points during the third quarter. Russia made a run late to cut the deficit to six points entering the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Canada started off strong as they built their lead to ten points, 50-40 with 6:33 left in the quarter. Unfortunately for Canada, from that point on Russia was able to climb back into the match and finished on a 18-3 run to win the game, 58-53.

For box score, click here.

Canada will play Great Britain next on Monday, July 30 at 3:00 p.m. EDT and can be watched on Sportsnet.

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