Two games – two night see’s Canada’s National squad take on the visiting club from China.
The first game was dominated by Canada, but since China had not seen Canada in a while, it was not a shock to many that China seemed sluggish.
Game two was played at the famed Richmond Oval in front of a sell-out crowd of (only) 400.
The venue is great, but the seating leaves a lot to be desired. The other area was that of the Anthem singer.
China had a gentleman singing wearing a White Tux, which was pure class on his part, not to mention those in attendance of Chinese decent sang with him.
Canada (on the other hand) had the singer who normally sings for the Whitecaps at BC Place.
She was wearing “blue jeans” which in itself was not impressive to those in the stands watching and some made it known about this. So much for professionalism!
Her attire had nothing to do with the on-floor performance of the team as they dropped more than the ball, they dropped the game by a margin of 67-51.
Head Coach Allison McNeil stated “I thought tonight there was a long stretch of non-execution and it led to a run by China as well as we had opportunities for a couple of free throws to keep it to two possessions as well as a couple of easy shots.”
Canada’s best player was Mission’s Teresa Gabriele who led Canada in with 13 points and added 8 steals. Her presence at both ends of the court was not only impressive, it was demanding, which was missing from other parts of the game.
China’s Shanshan Li ended up with a game-high 15 points and helped the squad penetrate any offence Canada might have thought of mustering up.
The first quarter was even and Canada made a late 9-4 run to gain a 19-14 edge at the end of the quarter. Brampton’s Alisha Tatham led the way with 6 points; while Saskatoon’s Krista Phillips played strong down-low managing 5 points in the frame.
China’s Defense took control in the second quarter and held Canada to only 10 points.
There offence continued and they scored 18 points in the quarter giving China a 32-29 lead, heading into the second half.
They continued where they left off and watching China’s Defense step it up, was nice to watch and garnered support from those on hand.
They managed to find ways to shut down the Canadian offence which was 60 percent in game one, they (Canada) shot a shocking 39% in game two.
China started the second half with a 10-4 run and held Canada to 22 points in the second half to preserve the win and even the series at 1.Teresa Gabriele and Zengyu Ma were named players of the game for each of the teams.
The “rubber” game will take place at UFV in Abbotsford.
It will be interesting to see what type of turn-out is at this game, considering you are watching not only National teams, but also Olympic teams.
On a side note:
It was interesting to hear some of the Canadian fans mention they were not “sold” on the Canadian uniforms.
Photo is of Head Coach Allison McNeil who gets the most out of her players, both on and off the court.
Here’s hoping?
Photo By Laird Allan – Official Sportswave Photographer
