The United States put on another impressive display in their Rio 2016 Women's Basketball Tournament, when they cruised to victory over neighbours Canada with a scoreline of 81-51. Nonetheless, this loss won't inflict any damage on the Canadians, as they had already made sure of their qualifications prior this encounter, alongside the USA.
Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx, was unquestionably the USA's best player as she registered 12 points and was determinant in major part of the USA's offensive maneuvres. In addition to her, Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm was also exceptional in this match, registering nine assists and proving to be one of the USA's pivotal players.
Meanwhile, Nayo-Raincock Ekunwe of the Bendingo Spirit was outstanding for Canada despite ending on the losing side, as she recorded eight rebounds, alongside the field goals and three pointers she managed to pull.
This was the USA's fourth consecutive win in this tournament after seeing off Senegal, Serbia and Spain and it is also their 45th consecutive win at the Olympic Games.
Bright start for Canada, yet not enough
A 16-18 scorline after the first quarter underlined how the Canadians were focused and determined to keep the match close in order to try and pull an upset in the final couple of quarters. Yet, they did not manage to replicate their first quarter's performance, as the USA outscored them in the second quarter with a scoreline of 18-6.
The States were more clinical, especially on turnovers, while the Canadians were slow in their offensive maneuvres, giving time to the USA to shape themselves defensively. Raincock Ekunwe tried to inspire the Canadians with five rebounds and a couple of successful turnovers, but it was the duo Moore-Bird who triggered the crowd's enthusiass, as they registered 10 assists and points in total. The Canadians had to pull a rabbit from the hat in the followign couple of quarters, if they wanted to avoid a humiliating defeat.
Superlative United States
Canada had to step up their game if they wanted to reduce the gap, but the States gave them no time to breathe as Tina Charles of the New York Liberty and Elene Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky were on fire, registering three and six rebounds respectively, while capitalizing on all turnovers. Canada lacked to to register successful turnovers, as despite the USA started to lose possession much more quickly, the Canadians only registered 10 successful turnovers, from the 20 they obtained.
Canada only scored 34% of their points from field goals, while they only managed to record 29% of their points from three pointes. On the other hand, USA outscored them in both, as they they registered 55% field goals and 42% of their points came from three pointers. As both quarters ended on at 14-24 and 15-21, it was the USA who emerged victorious in this match.
Next commitments
The USA will be ending their group phase commitments with an encounter against China, who are currently occupying the fourth place with five points, following a win and three losses while the Canadian side will be crossing swords with another five-point nation, Spain, who are sitting exactly a place above China.
Both the USA and Canada have already made sure of a place in the next round, therefore both coaches will probably make use of their second string ahead of the knockout stage fixtures.