The Junior Women’s National Team (JWNT) battled Australia in a close match to fall 72-65 in Saturday’s action. The women evened out their record to 1-1 and go on to face the United States Sunday for their third game in the Lanzarote tournament.

Team Canada kept Australia at a close distance in the first quarter with both teams scoring back-to-back. Australia led Canada by three points after the first quarter with a score of 18-15. Canada continued to fight hard until the end of the first half trailing 38-34.  

The close action continued in the second half with both teams playing great defense and ending the third quarter with a score of 61-56 for Australia. Team Canada fought hard in the fourth to stop the Australians from taking the game. Although close, Canada couldn’t tame Australia’s offense and fell 72-65 with a great effort from both teams.  

Guard Jamie Weisner led the team in scoring with 16 points while adding four rebounds. Daneesha Provo added 12 points and one board in the match. The game statistics are available here.

Head Coach Rich Chambers was impressed by the girls' play and complemented them on a great first half. Chambers went on to state, “The girls played an outstanding 35 minutes. The last five minutes we stopped attacking Australia’s pressure and let them back in the game. The second half we went away from that. We did a good job on boards. Our young team will learn from this experience.”

When asked about her team’s performance, Quebec native Sarah-Jane Marois answered, “We played three good quarters, but in the last, we let them into the game. Our effort was really great. This helps us prepare for the world championships because a team has to play against the best in the world and Australia is a top team.”

Team Canada continues the Lanzarote tournament Sunday and will match-up against the United States with a 5:00 a.m. (ET) tip-off.

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