Canadian women advance to GLOBL JAM final with win over Puerto Rico

The Canadian women’s under-23 basketball team is going for GLOBL JAM gold.

After defeating Puerto Rico 81-59 on Saturday to improve to 3-0, Canada will face a University of Louisville team representing the U.S. in Sunday’s gold-medal game. This will be the second consecutive year that Canada has advanced to the final after defeating France in the inaugural 2022 GLOBL JAM tournament to win gold.

Canada was led by an 18-point performance from Keishana Washington in Saturday’s win, as well as a dominant all-around performance from Phillipina Kyei, who finished with nine points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots. Niyah Becker added 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Shy Day-Wilson had a game-high eight assists as Canada finished with 26 assists on 30 made field goals. Canada shot 43 per cent in the game while holding Puerto Rico to 35 per-cent shooting. After a close first half, Canada broke the game open after halftime, outscoring Puerto Rico 43- 24 in the second half.

SiriusXM Signature Live Performance concert at GLOBL JAM

Catch the SiriusXM Signature Live Performance concert featuring renowned Canadian artists ROCHESTER & Tara Lord after the women’s GLOBL JAM tournament finals this Sunday beginning at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT on Sportsnet.

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“Definitely happy after the second half,” Team Canada head coach Christa Eniojukan said. “First half I wasn’t so happy, but a 3-0 [record] is something to be proud of. 

“[We] just had to level-up defensively,” Eniojukan continued. “We know we get our confidence offensively when we play good defence and then our offence comes easily to us.”

Kyei had a solid first half, doing a bit of everything as she racked up points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, all without a single turnover. Still, neither team could get loose in the first half as the score was tied after the opening quarter. Rosalie Mercille beat the buzzer with a baseline drive and layup to put Canada up by three, 38-35, at the half.

After Eniojukan reminded her team of its defensive identity in the locker room at halftime, Canada came out on a mission to start the third. 

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Washington opened the second half with a jumper to extend the lead to five. She scored again and then found Kyei inside for a layup as Canada led 44-37. Day-Wilson found Jade Belmore for a layup in transition and then Washington was fouled driving to the rim. Washington made both free throws to push the advantage to nine points with three minutes remaining in the third.

Brynn Masikewich sank a three-pointer to extend the advantage to double figures. Canada took control over the second half of the third as it closed the quarter on a 13-0 run to take an 18-point advantage, 61-43, into the fourth.

Canada continued to roll in the fourth and its lead was never threatened. Canada won the quarter 20-16, and used an 8-0 run, capped by back-to-back threes from Becker to extend the advantage to 23 points with 3:13 remaining. 

Canada will face a Team USA squad that pushed them to the final buzzer in a 74-71 victory earlier this week. 

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”[We will approach the final] the same way we approached them the first time,” Washington said. “It’s going to be a battle. We’ve got to get them off the board because they did outrebound us [on Thursday]. It’s going to be a great game. I’m excited for it.”

After three victories in four days, Eniojukan was feeling confident heading into Sunday’s contest against Team USA.

“Oh, we’re ready,” she said. “We just have to fine-tune some details from our game the other day and we’ll be ready to go.”

The gold-medal game is Sunday at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT at the Mattamy Athleic Centre. Fans can catch all of the action live on Sportsnet and Sportsnet NOW.

More from Sportsnet

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Team USA dominates BAL Select Women on final day of GLOBL JAM group stage

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