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Birmingham, England (July 30, 2022) - The Canadian Women’s 3x3 team went 1-1 in their first day of action at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

In the team’s first game of the day, Canada defeated the British Virgin Islands 22-6, ending the game with 17 seconds remaining on a two-point shot by Rosalie Mercille.

“I think we started off a little slow. We definitely had some nerves going in but after we got going a bit we just relaxed and just played basketball,” Taya Hanson said.

The Canadians had a balanced scoring effort in the win, with Mercille and Tara Wallack each finishing with seven points, and Hanson adding six points. Wallack also had 14 rebounds, seven offensive and seven defensive, finishing with more rebounds than the British Virgin Islands as a team.

“It’s been amazing,” Wallack said of the team’s experience at the Games. “Everyone is so welcoming and just proud, you can tell, as loud as they are right now, I can barely hear. It’s so great, hearing Birmingham being so supportive of the other countries.”

With a 5-3 lead to start, the Canadians went on a 17-3 run to close the game as the British Virgin Islands struggled to score from the floor, shooting just 3-for-23 in the game. In comparison, the Canadians were 10-for-16 from inside the arc and 5-for-19 from two-point range as Wallack’s work on the offensive glass helped Canada hold a 29-13 edge in rebounds.

“We’ve been waiting so long to play that kickstarter game and I thought we played really well as a team,” Hanson said. “We brought good energy, we’re finding each other and just playing good basketball.”

In Canada’s second game of the day, the team fell 21-11 against New Zealand. After a strong shooting performance against the British Virgin Islands, Canada struggled to score against New Zealand, shooting just 2-for-14 from one-point range and 4-for-9 from two-point range. In comparison, New Zealand made 10-of-18 attempts inside the arc and finished 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.

New Zealand scored the first five points of the game, but Canada came back to tie the game at 11 points apiece on a two-pointer from Sarah Te-Biasu with 4:07 remaining. Unfortunately for Canada, they wouldn’t score again in the game as New Zealand reeled off 10 straight points to take the win on a two-point jump shot from Tiarna Clarke with 1:49 remaining on the clock.

They’re a good team, they're an experienced team and credit to them, they hit shots,” Hanson said. “We struggled to do so. Next game we’re going to get into our offensive flow better and just battle. We’ve got to punch for the full 10 minutes.”

Despite the slow start, the Canadians were pleased that they were able to come back to tie things up before New Zealand went on their run to close the game.

“I’m proud of us for bringing it back to that tie, that felt really good going into that timeout,” Hanson said. “ They’re a good team that knows how to push and knows how to keep on going and hit shorts. We’re going to learn from that and take what we can to England’s game tomorrow.”