Canada wins bronze at women's 3x3 basketball World Cup with rout of Poland
Canada claimed bronze at the FIBA women's 3x3 basketball World Cup with a 21-9 win over Poland on Sunday in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Team veteran Paige Crozon led Canada with 13 points and five rebounds at Sükhbaatar Square.
Saicha Grant-Allen added five points and five rebounds for the sixth-seeded Canadians. Cassandra Brown and Kacie Bosch each collected three rebounds while scoring two points and one point, respectively.
Anna Pawlowska led No. 8 Poland with three points and three rebounds.
The Canadian women bounced back from a tough 21-15 semifinal loss earlier in the day to the second-seeded Netherlands, which went on to defeat No. 12 Mongolia 15-9 in the gold-medal game.
Canada, which went 2-2 in group play, beat Japan 18-6 in Friday's play-in game before defeating Olympic silver medallist Spain 11-10 in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The Canadians had lost their last two group stage games before making a run into the semifinal.
Crozon also delivered a strong performance against the Dutch with 10 points and five rebounds.
The Canadian squad was without star players Katherine Plouffe and twin sister Michelle, who missed the tournament due to minor injuries and scheduling conflicts. Brown and Grant-Allen stepped up in their absence.
Canada took home silver at the 2022 edition before finishing sixth in 2023 and losing the Olympic bronze-medal game to the United States last summer.
The Canadian men's squad failed to reach the World Cup playoffs in Ulaanbaatar after going 1-3 in group play.
cbc.ca
