(TORONTO, ON) – The U19 Women’s National Team earned their first victory of the exhibition tour, beating Austrlia 67-60 in Spain.
"Fantastic effort by everyone against a top five team in the world. The girls did a tremendous job bouncing back after last night's performance. This will be a great building block for the world championships,” said Head Coach Rich Chambers.
Bridget Carleton keyed the Canadian win. The Chatham, ON-product scored 22 points with four threes and nine rebounds. Daneesha Provo followed up with 12 points while Australia was led by Mikayla Prini with 12 points. For full box score, click here.
The two teams played a tight first quarter as Canada held a three-point lead after 10 minutes of play. Team Canada would pull away with a strong defensive quarter, holding the Australians to a game-low five points in the quarter. The U19 Women’s National Team led 37-22 at the half.
Canada won the third quarter 24-18, but the Australians would rally in the fourth. In the final period, Canada scored six points to Australia’s 20, but held on to win 67-60.
"We came out with a lot of energy and we transitioned our energy from defence to offence with our momentum. Overall we fought really hard which resulted in the win and we're excited to build on this for worlds,” said Bridget Carleton.
The U19 Women’s National Team shot 27 free throws in the game and won the rebound battle 43-38, including 21 offensive rebounds.
Canada’s next game is at the FIBA U19 Women’s World Championships on July 18, where Canada takes on Mali at 8:15 a.m. The games will be streamed live on youtube.com/FIBA.
For the full U19 Women’s National Team roster and coaching staff, click here.