Canada drops Game 2 of Globl Jam to tough Texas Longhorns team
Even though they led for only 15 seconds in a near wire-to-wire 70-61 loss against the Texas Longhorns Thursday at Mattamy Athletic Centre, the under-23 Canadian women put up a valiant effort against a program that went to the final four last season.
“I think every game is an opportunity to learn, get better and grow, individually and collectively,” said head coach Carly Clarke after the game. “This one was a battle. We got down early, we had to fight back and I thought we did a pretty good job of doing that. So some great lessons there and hopefully we’ll come back Saturday ready to go and then we’ll get this team again on Sunday.”
Yvonne Ejim and Avery Howell paced Canada with 15 points apiece, scoring them in very different ways, with Howell launching from deep and Ejim making hay on the inside. Lead guard Shayeann Day-Wilson led with six assists and added 11 points but went 5-of-14 from the field, often failing to pressure the rim on drives and having to settle for contested pull-up twos.
After making 17-of-34 triples in their tournament-opening rout of Brazil, Canada made only 3-of-19 attempts against Texas.
Last season’s SEC player of the year Madison Booker led the Longhorns with 18 points, six rebounds and eight assists while Teya Sidberry had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Canada didn’t take care of the ball to start, as Ejim’s dribble was picked by Breya Cunningham for one of their five turnovers in the first quarter. Sidberry slotted home a putback and then waltzed to the rim for a layup as Texas jumped out to 13-3 lead.
The Longhorns used exit screens to run shooters across the baseline to the corner and generate open looks. Howell admirably tried to fight over but slid to the floor as Bryanna Preston drained a short corner two.
Day-Wilson crossed up her defender in isolation and stuck a tough pull-up middy in response.
Canada started the second with three straight makes capped by an Ejim two, but Madison Booker halted the momentum with a pull-up triple from the top of the floor. A get action into a corner pick n’ roll by the Longhorns set up Preston for a curved drive to the rim and hook-shot finish.
While Day-Wilson wasn’t able to get all the way downhill, she was comfortable getting to her spots in the mid-range off the bounce and made a couple pull-up jumpers. Yet as the game wore on, these shots stopped falling, and she ultimately spent the final minutes on the bench.
Booker had a chase-down block on Tara Wallack after a transition outlet, but Howell cleaned up the putback. Booker drilled another pull-up triple going the other way, her tough shot making consistently keeping Canada at bay.
Again Day-Wilson navigated a pick n’ roll with Ejim, knifing middle after being chased over and making a leaning jumper inside the elbow. Howell sunk a moving three off a handoff for Canada’s first deep-ball of the game. They were 0-of-8 from three-point land in the first half.
Veteran Longhorns coach Vic Schaefer threw a variety of pick n’ roll coverages at Day-Wilson, including overs, switches and hedge and recovers. After a well timed hedge forced a pressured miss, Day-Wilson saw a switch the next time down with the shot clock running out. With the big drawn out of the paint, she wisely found Ejim on a stampede cut to the rim for a finish over a smaller defender.
Which is why Clarke thought Day-Wilson “had a pretty solid game creating in a variety of different ways,” adding that “Their ball pressure was disruptive, it made it difficult for her to get to the point of the screen a couple times, but when she was able to use it, she found some teammates and got to her pull-up a little bit too.”
Howell dribbled off a down-screen and nailed a pull-up 3 from the top of the floor. Then after drawing a foul on a late-clock drive, Day-Wilson drained a deep one-dribble pull-up to cut the deficit to single digits in the fourth. Howell rejected an off-ball screen on a BLOB, drove, drew help from the strong-side corner and kicked for an open short-corner jumper from Ejim. Going the other way Canada forced a shot clock violation with measured pressure and intent help.
Marissa Russell made a tough contested layup the next possession cutting the Longhorn’s lead to seven. But a Cunningham putback and an ensuing errant backcourt pass quickly brought the lead back to double digits and cued a late timeout from Clarke.
Canada must win against against Puerto Rico on Saturday, who are 0-2 in the tournament so far, for a shot to take on Texas again in the gold medal game on Sunday.
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