Canada's women's basketball team officially clinch World Cup spot with win at qualifier
Canada's women's basketball team has officially clinched a spot in the FIBA World Cup with a dominant 96-64 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in qualifying.
Bridget Carleton scored 28 points and Natalie Achonwa added 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists to power Canada to victory at a qualifying tournament in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday.
The win gives Canada a 1-1 record at the three-team tournament.
A COVID-19 outbreak forced a fourth team, Belarus, to withdraw just days before play was set to begin.
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The World Cup, which is a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, opens Sept. 22 in Sydney.
Saturday marked the first win for Canadian women's head coach Victor LaPena, who took over the program last month.
"My players played amazing today," LaPena said in a statement. "Just to see their faces once the game finished, for me, was the most important. Everybody is happy, we qualified for the World Cup by ourselves, this is very very important. The passion, the energy they put on the court was enough to compete and we respect Bosniawe ... we did our best on the court."
