Canada to meet USA in FIBA ​​Women’s AmeriCup semifinals after victory over Argentina

Nirra Fields scored a game-high 22 points along with eight rebounds in leading Canada to a 68-60 victory over Argentina on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the FIBA ​​Women’s AmeriCup in Léon, Mexico.

Aaliyah Edwards added 13 points and a game-high 16 rebounds and Shay Colley had 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Canada.

The Canadians now have an appointment with the US – who beat Colombia 68-49 in the quarterfinals earlier on Friday – on Saturday for a chance at Sunday’s final.

“I feel so lucky,” Fields said. “I’m really proud of my team. We fought to the end. We played great defensively.

“Our offense didn’t work and we just kept trying to get steals, tried to play a hard defense, and we played to the end. I’m really happy for them.”

Julieta Mungo led Argentina with 12 points, Melisa Gretter added 11 and Candela Gentinetta finished with 10 off the bench.

“It was a tough game,” Canadian head coach Victor Lapena said. “Argentina is a great, competitive team.

“I think in the first period and the third we maybe played the pace of Argentina. When we learned how to play against them, we found the space we needed to create good basketball.”

Argentina jumped out to a 6-0 lead – the biggest lead of the game – to start the game and led 20-18 at the end of the first quarter. But Canada turned things around in the second frame, beating Argentina 20-10 to take a 38-30 lead.

Argentina narrowed the deficit to make it a 54–51 game going into the fourth quarter. With 2:33 left in the game, Gretter capped a personal streak of five consecutive points with a three-pointer to bring Argentina within four points, 64–60.

Just over a minute later, Fields pushed the lead to six with a jumper and a steal from Sami Hill led to a pair of decisive free throws from Edwards with just 33.3 seconds remaining.

The USA won 3-1 in Group A and lost their lone game against Brazil 67-54 on Tuesday.

With the US already qualified for the Paris Games, the top-performing squad at the AmeriCup – with 10 teams – will automatically advance to the FIBA ​​Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in February 2024.

The next top three teams will compete in the regional FIBA ​​Women’s Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in November.

Canadian list

Guards:

• #1 Aislinn Konig — Langley, BC
• #2 Shay Colley — Brampton, Ont.
• #4 Sami Hill — Toronto
• #12 Syla swords — Sudbury, Ont.
• #21 Nirra Fields — Montreal
• #30 Taya Hanson — Kelowna, BC

Forward:

• #3 Merissah Russel — Ottawa
• #8 Cassandre Prosper — Montreal
• #9 Yvonne Ejim — Calgary
• #24 Aaliyah Edwards — Kingston, Ont.

Centers:

• #10 Emily Potter- winnipeg
• #14 Kayla Alexander — Milton, Ont.