Playing at home is a new experience for the Canadian women’s national team. Beating up on their competition in FIBA Americas isn’t, necessarily.
Outside of the United States, Canada has emerged as a women’s basketball power in this part of the world and they acted the part as they simply overwhelmed Venezuela 101-38 in the opener of the pool play portion of the Pan Am Games at Ryerson University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Welcome to the new Pan Am order: Canada as favourite.
“We’re not [used to it] yet,” said Canadian head coach Lisa Thomaidis. “We’re a bit of an unknown factor. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our team and take on some of that pressure [of being a gold-medal contender]. It’s a pressure we’ve earned and are relishing at this point in time. It’s positive for our team and our players to go through this.”
The margin could have been larger. Canada jumped out to a 13-2 lead after seven minutes and wasn’t threatened for a moment on their way to a 48-19 halftime lead.
Even so, Canada shot a relatively ordinary 48 per cent from the floor and 38 per cent from three in the first half, missing a number of layups, and their six first-half turnovers were mainly unforced.
But they showed their class and athleticism by holding Venezuela to 35 per cent shooting, grabbing eight offensive rebounds and forcing 12 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
It was a convincing showing in a rare meaningful home game. The last time Canada played an international competition at home was at the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg in 1999. Even for veterans it was their first game of consequence on home soil in their careers.
“It’s awesome,” said Shona Thorburn, who was perfect on the night, scoring 14 points on five shots, including four triples. “Normally it’s only us singing O Canada, and now we have a gym full of people participating with us, it’s goosebumps, it’s emotional.”
The Canadians couldn’t have really taken their foot off the gas if they had wanted to — one of Canada’s calling cards is their depth. There is virtually no drop off in talent or execution as they go deeper in their rotation.
Ten players got at least 15 minutes of playing time and none more than 24 as seven Canadians hit double-figures in scoring, led by Lizanne Murphy who led all scorers with 15 points.
“It’s our depth, we don’t have any lulls,” said Murphy, who went 3-for-6 from the three-point line. “We’re so deep, our starting five gets us off to such a great start, the bench comes in and we just keep going. Everyone is ready, chomping at the bit to get their chance to get in, we’re hard to guard.”
And they guard hard. On the night they held Venezuela to 25 per cent shooting and forced 20 turnovers.
This kind dominance isn’t entirely new for the new-look Canadian women, who finished fifth at the world championships a year ago, second in the FIBA Americas tournament in 2013 and eighth at the Olympics in 2012, a remarkable run for a team that failed to earn a medal at the Pan Am Games in 2011.
The last time the two teams met was at the FIBA Americas tournament for women in 2013 where Canada thumped Venezuela 89-45 in pool play on their way to a silver medal.
The reality is Canada arrives at the tournament as a prohibitive favourite to advance to the gold medal game on Monday night.
At the Tournament of the Americas in 2013 Canada went undefeated in pool play and won their four games by an average of 34.5 points. They won their semi-final over Puerto Rico by 25 before falling 79-71 to Cuba, who they had beaten easily in pool play.
Canada then had a strong showing at the Worlds in 2014, with only the gold-medal winning U.S. outdoing them among Pan Am countries.
Their only real challenge in Pool B is expected to come from Cuba, who Canada plays on Saturday night. Cuba opened their tournament with a 68-55 win over Argentina, Canada’s Friday night opponent.
If there was a cautious note it was that forward Natalie Anchonwa of Guelph, Ont., wasn’t in the lineup. She has only recently returned to playing after missing a year recovering from an ACL injury. Thomaidis said only that she was being rested and would be a game-time decision on Friday.
On the other side of the draw stands the U.S., who have won 40 straight Olympic games and five straight gold medals as well as four of the past five world championships.
However, the U.S. has sent a student all-star team to the Pan Ams. A similarly constructed roster was shut out of the medals at the 2011 tournament.
Not only is Canada only enjoying the rare opportunity to host a significant international tournament, they’re playing the role of favourites quite convincingly.