Women’s Basketball has completed group play and the top four teams from Group A and Group B have advanced to the quarterfinals which begin today. The top-seeded team from Group A faces the fourth-seeded team from Group B, and vice versa. Second-seeded teams face the third seed from the other group. The winners move on to the semifinals, which determine the finalists and the teams that battle for the bronze medal. Australia and the United States are the only two teams that completed Group play without any losses. Most disappointing were the Brazilian hosts who failed to win a single game in front of their home fans. They finished Group play with an awful 0-5 mark and have been eliminated from the tournament.

The most interesting matchup of the day should be France vs. Canada. Both enter the semi-finals having lost two games in Group play. Canada losing to the U.S. and Spain while France lost to both Australia and Japan. Canada has played some really good basketball thus far and look to be a team that has a real shot at taking home a medal at the end of the games. Tamara Tatham and Kia Nurse have played well for Team Canada and helped them to start the tourney with a 3-0 mark. France had a pretty easy start with Turkey winning by almost 20 points but squeaked by Belarus the next day with a buzzer-beating bank shot from Endy Miyem who finished with 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. At this point both teams should be pretty worn down physically. Tatham will have to have another stellar game to help Canada Advance. Achonwa and Ayim will have their hands full with Gruda and Yacoubou. Without veteran point guard Celine Dumerc leading the way for France, the youngsters will have to show their leadership and control the pace throughout.  [Read more…]