US uses big third quarter to pull away from Canada

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Both the Canadian and American women’s national basketball teams have work to do before the world championships.

Only leading by four at halftime, the United States scored the first 13 points of the third quarter to grab control in a 76-51 victory over Canada on Monday night in an exhibition game.

“I thought there were moments where we looked like we could be a really good team down the road,” said American coach Geno Auriemma. “We’ll find out more when we get to France and when we play three games in three days. The competition will be pretty good.”

Edmonton’s Katherine Plouffe led all scorers with 14 points, five rebounds and two assists for Canada, while Tamara Tatham of Brampton, Ont., poured in 10 points.

Head coach Lisa Thomaidis was pleased with Canada’s performance against a tough opponent.

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“Nothing but positives to take away from tonight,” said Thomaidis. “We had a great 20 minutes against the best team in the world. At times our youth and inexperience showed but we remained composed through adversity when they picked up their defensive intensity in the third quarter.

“I’m proud of how we remained mentally focused and competitive against a tough opponent.”

The Canadians are headed to Spain to play an exhibition game against the host country and Cuba.

Canada is in Group B at the world championship with France, Turkey and Mozambique. Canada featured UConn freshman Kia Nurse. The young guard finished with six points. Before the game, she posed with current and former Huskies for a photo much to the delight of the roughly 7,500 fans in attendance.

“Canada is slowly building up as a basketball nation,” said Kim Gaucher, from Mission, B.C., who will be playing in her third world championship. “I think we showed tonight that for 20 minutes we competed with them really well. Once they ramped up their pressure we had a rough stretch for 20 minutes. We showed that we can be a force at worlds.”

Auriemma said that one player who won’t be joining them in France is Sylvia Fowles, who needs time to rest her injuries. That opens another spot on the team for a player like Nneka Ogwumike, who scored 10 points in the balanced attack against Canada.

Leading 35-31 at the break, the U.S. came out strong in the third quarter behind Tina Charles. She was scoreless in the first half, but had seven points during the game-changing spurt. Maya Moore added a nifty reverse layup and the Americans were off and running.

By the time Plouffe, the former Marquette player, hit a layup 6:30 into the quarter to end the run, the U.S. led 48-31.

Odyssey Sims hit a 3-pointer just before the end of the period to give the Americans a 57-41 advantage. Canada could only get within 14 in the fourth quarter.

“We’re still a work in progress but we’re going in the right direction,” said Moore, who had six steals. “We have all the parts and are learning to play together. It definitely helps having so many veterans.”

The U.S. will make a quick stop in the Czech Republic before heading to Istanbul to begin the world championship on Sept. 27.

The U.S. will now head to France to play in a pre-worlds tournament against Australia, China and France. The 13 players who competed in Monday night’s game will be joined by a few players who missed the training camp to play in the WNBA Finals.