Canadian women's basketball team starts strong with win over China
Tatham has 20 points, 6 rebounds
Tamara Tatham had 20 points and Kim Gaucher chipped in with 10 rebounds as the Canadian women's basketball team opened the preliminary round Saturday with a 90-68 victory over China at the Rio Games.
Tatham, from Brampton, Ont., added six rebounds as Canada held a 44-31 advantage on the boards. Gaucher, the team captain from Mission, B.C., also had a team-high seven assists.
Canada took a 60-46 lead into the fourth period and a quick 12-0 run put the game out of reach.
It was an impressive showing from the deep Canadian side, with head coach Lisa Thomaidis working all 12 of her players into the game by the second minute of the second period.
"A great way to start, I couldn't be happier," Thomaidis said. "There are still some things to shore up at the defensive end but we're feeling good moving forward."
Canada will play Serbia on Monday (1:15 p.m. ET).
Early jitters appeared to be a factor as Canada missed its first six field-goal attempts. Miranda Ayim of London, Ont., finally put Canada on the board with a smooth fadeaway jumper.
Kia Nurse of Hamilton, a star guard at the University of Connecticut, came in off the bench and helped Canada get on track. She used her quick first step to flummox the Chinese defence and found Shona Thorburn of Hamilton for an open three to give Canada a 14-7 lead.
Guard Zhifang Zhao provided some spark for China late in the first half, converting a three-point play to cut Canada's lead to eight points. However, Miah-Marie Langlois of Windsor, Ont., answered with two three-pointers to help give Canada a 37-26 halftime lead.
Canada kept up the pressure in the third period as Tatham and Langlois hit back-to-back three-pointers to extend the lead to 43-29.
Canada outscored China in each of the four periods and had a 31-14 edge in assists.
Canada shot at a 50-per cent clip overall and was a strong 65 per cent from beyond the arc. China was at 38 per cent from the field and 39 per cent from distance.
There were pockets of fans from both countries in the 5,000-seat Youth Arena, which was about half-full for the matinee.
China is eighth in the FIBA world rankings, one position higher than Canada. However, the rankings are not updated frequently and do not include all tournaments.
China is actually in a rebuilding stage with nine of its 12 players making their Olympic debut.
The Canadians, meanwhile, finished fifth at the world championship in 2014 and won gold at last year's Pan Am Games in Toronto.
The same 12-player roster is back for the Olympics. The lineup includes seven players who reached the quarter-finals at the 2012 Games in London.
The United States, Spain, Serbia and Senegal are also in Canada's group. The rest of the field includes France, Turkey, Australia, Brazil, Belarus and Japan.
Canada has never reached the Olympic podium in women's basketball.
Nurse, who had five points and four assists in 17 minutes, underwent sports hernia surgery in May after helping UConn win a fourth straight U.S. women's university title. She started practising with the national team a few weeks ago.
The Canadian Press