Canadian women's wheelchair basketballers score statement win, honour fallen teammate in Parapan Am opener

Statement made. 

The Canadian women's wheelchair basketball began its defence of Parapan Am Games gold with an emphatic 61-44 victory over Brazil on Saturday afternoon in Santiago, Chile.

Led by Kady Dandeneau's game high 25 points, the Canadians opened up an early lead and never looked back.

After back-to-back quarters scoring 14 points, the Canadians took a seven point lead into halftime. Every time Canada tried to pull away in the first half of the game Brazil seemingly had an answer.

But that changed in the second half. The experience and skill overpowered Brazil in the final two frames. 

The Canadians went on an 8-3 run to begin the final frame and started pulling away from Brazil with the score 51-36. 

It forced the Brazilians to call a timeout and to try and regroup from the remaining 7:25 of the game. 

However, Canada proved to be too much and would cruise to a 16-point victory. 

"We got the job done." Dandeneau said. "It was a little rough at times but we're off to a really strong start. Brazil has improved so much."

Four years ago at the Lima 2019 Games the Canadians stunned the Americans to win gold. 

But this is about so much more than defending a title or shooting a basketball into a net.

The Canadians are playing for their teammate who isn't here.

A month ago, longtime national team member Maude Jacques died suddenly at the beginning of October. 

The 31-year-old's death sent a shockwave across throughout the program and the country's sporting community.

Every player on the team has a shirt with the #9 on the back. They'll wear the shirts on the way to their games throughout the competition in Santiago. 

Many of the players also wrote "#9" on their arms. 

"We really wanted to make sure it's known that we're