Canada’s women’s basketball team never looked right and never played up to its immense potential. Whether in the Olympics in France or in qualifying earlier this year, a group loaded with experience, talent and up-and-comers, never put it all together.
As a result, they are going home early for the second Olympics in a row. Canada fell behind Nigeria 12-2 early on Sunday, rallied to lead by 10 in the second quarter and by four at halftime, before another disastrous quarter sank them. Canada needed to win by 10 points and to see France beat Australia later in the day just to have a shot at advancing, but the result did not matter. Nigeria cruised 79-70, and it felt worse than that.
Canada had just missed advancing in Tokyo in 2021 after reaching the quarter-finals in the previous two Olympics, but had rallied with that impressive fourth-place finish at the World Cup. This summer, Victor Lapena’s group could not regain that winning formula.
And now the program shifts into a new era. In the fourth quarter Sunday Lapena mostly went to his youngsters like Syla Swords, who hasn’t even played NCAA basketball yet, Laeticia Amihere, and Cassandre Prosper. Leader and four-time Olympian Natalie Achonwa has said this is it for her. Fellow front-court veteran Kayla Alexander has likely aged out, and Kia Nurse struggled all tournament and will be 32 in 2028 in Los Angeles.
This team was expected to show better in France after finishing fourth at the most recent FIBA Women’s World Cup. With a number of big names and some rising teenagers and recent WNBA draft picks it was believed they had a shot against nearly any opponent. But getting outscored 23-2 in a quarter by host France in the opener was a bad sign. Getting outscored 23-5 in the third quarter Sunday was the nail in the coffin for a team that only played well in three or four of 12 quarters in France.
Canada entered the Olympics ranked No. 5 in the world, but will likely plummet after this poor tournament.
