'We were out for blood': Canada's women to play for 5th at wheelchair basketball worlds

Like Canada's men before them, the women secured their spot in the fifth-place match at the wheelchair basketball world championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Led by Arinn Young, Canada built a 15-point lead by halftime and played Spain even the rest of the way for a 60-47 win in Sunday's 5-8 crossover game.

The 26-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., converted her lone three-point attempt of the game to extend her team's first-quarter lead to 17-8.

Young collected 13 points in the first 20 minutes but was also instrumental in her own end, pulling down 11 defensive rebounds to lead all players. She finished with a game-high 23 points, was 4-for-4 from the free throw line and added a team-high seven assists.

"I think we were out for blood in this game to redeem ourselves from the prior loss to Spain," Young told Wheelchair Basketball Canada "I think we played really aggressively, which got us our leads in this game."

The Canadian women face Australia on Monday (11:15 a.m. ET) at the Dubai World Trade Centre while the men battle Italy for fifth at 11 a.m.

The senior women's national squad was fifth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2018 worlds in Hamburg, Germany. They have won seven world championship medals since the inaugural edition in 1990, most recently gold on home soil in 2014.

"We're excited about battling for fifth and proud to be in that position," said head coach Marni Abbott-Peter, whose team dropped a 66-47 semifinal decision to the Netherlands on Saturday. "We know some of those teams that are playing in the semifinals; we had some really good games against them, so we know we're in that mix, for sure."

On June 12, free throw struggles, coupled with a shot clock violation, led to a 70-65 Canadian loss to