FRANCE – The Canadian Senior Women`s National Team fell behind early in their final exhibition game and could not recover, as the seventh ranked French Team beat Canada, 66-41 in France.

"We played a strong second half after a very slow start start," said Allison McNeill.

"This was a great tournament here in France with three excellent games. It was great preparation for our team leading into the Olympic qualification tournament," added McNeill.

In the opening quarter, Canada came out slow, while France came out very aggressive and took control of the game. By the end of the quarter, France built an 18 point lead, 23-5. In the second quarter, Canada opened with a 9-0 run to cut the deficit down to eleven points. France however, made a run of their own as they finished on an 18-4 run to take the 43-18 lead to the locker room.

In the second half it became a defensive struggle, as both teams locked it down defensively and it led to a low scoring quarter where France scored twelve points to Canada`s ten. France held the advantage going into the fourth quarter, 55-28. The Canadian team played a better final quarter, but the deficit was too much for Canada to comeback from.

Kim Smith (Mission, BC) led the Canadian team in scoring with 10 points.

With Canada finished their exhibition schedule, they will now look toward FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women in Ankara, Turkey, starting June 25th. Canada will begin it`s quest to qualifying for the Olympics on June 25th against 19th ranked Mali. The game will begin at 2:15 p.m. (EDT) and will be available to watch on FIBAtv.com.

For box score, click here.

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