Globl Jam basketball: Canada beats France to win gold

TORONTO –

Aaliyah Edwards high-fived followers and posed for footage as she made her manner off the Mattamy Athletic Centre courtroom with teammates on Sunday, clutching her match MVP trophy.

Canada had simply defeated France 78-60 moments earlier within the inaugural Globl Jam match.

Billed as a bridge between the nationwide youth and senior applications, plus a uncommon alternative for Canadians to play basketball at house, the under-23 match was additionally a coming-out celebration of types for Edwards and rising ladies’s stars Merissah Russell, Shaina Pellington and Shy Day-Wilson.

“It was superb,” Edwards mentioned. “It was nice having a number of group … popping out simply to observe ladies’s basketball. Ladies’s basketball is rising right here in Canada, and it is nice to have individuals come out to see what we obtained, we might be dominant, and we might be aggressive on the courtroom.

“I have been speaking to (family and friends) about how good I’m, for them to truly see how good I’m in particular person, it is nice,” she added with amusing.

Day-Wilson had 19 factors and 9 assists, whereas Edwards, a ahead for the Connecticut Huskies, added 13 factors and 7 rebounds. Russell, a Louisville ahead, chipped in with 11 factors, whereas Arizona guard Pellington completed with 10.

“For us faculty gamers, having the ability to really play at house is nice for us as a result of individuals are used to looking for a (broadcast) stream or a hyperlink to observe us within the states,” mentioned Edwards, who turned 20 a day earlier. “So it is nice to have precise home-court benefit and really feel the love.”

Baylor College, representing the US, misplaced a 77-73 heartbreaker to Brazil within the males’s remaining on Sunday night time, after dispatching Canada 93-87 on Saturday.

Yago Dos Santos led Brazil with 30 factors, 11 assists and 6 rebounds within the gold-medal remaining, whereas Caio Pacheco scored 12 factors and Marcio Santos chipped in with 11.

Jalen Bridges had 13 factors for the U.S., with teammate Keyonte George including 12. Jordan Turner and Dantwan Grimes every scored 11 for the People, who trailed 42-38 at halftime.

The Canadian ladies went 3-0 within the preliminary spherical, beating Belgium, France and the U.S., represented by Virginia Commonwealth. They crushed the People 85-60 in Saturday’s semifinal.

“I feel it is superb,” mentioned Russell, a 20-year-old from Ottawa. “The most important factor for me, I used to be so excited to play in entrance of my dad and mom, as a result of it has been so lengthy due to COVID. They have not seen me play and rather a lot individuals cannot watch us play on the (faculty) community. It is simply troublesome to take action.

“We talked about it: None of us have ever performed on house courtroom sporting Canada, proper? So it is simply superb, we’re so prideful, and we obtained the ‘dub’ and I am so excited.”

Canada led 19-16 after one quarter, however Yvonne Ejim’s layup late within the second capped the Canadians’ 13-3 run that put them up by 13 factors. They headed into the halftime break with a 37-25 lead.

Canada continued to pour it on within the second half. Main 58-43 with one quarter left, Pellington’s layup with 8:25 to play put the Canadians up by 22 and it was all however over.

Edwards, Russell, a ahead for Louisville, and Arizona guard Pellington have been on Canada’s workforce ultimately summer season’s Tokyo Olympics, and will probably be in Canada’s senior camp on the finish of July in New York. Canada will play two exhibition video games in opposition to Australia, in preparation for the World Cup this fall.

They hope their efficiency this week made a press release about their future roles on the senior facet.

“Completely,” Edwards mentioned. “It is only a glimpse of what the following technology goes to appear to be. It is U23, so it may be an excellent segue into the senior roles nationwide workforce. I feel it confirmed that we might be dominant at this stage and on the senior ladies’s stage.”

Canada’s new senior coach Victor Lapena sat courtside for all of Canada’s video games.

“I am so excited for the way forward for ladies’s basketball in Canada as a result of that is just the start,” Russell mentioned.

Carly Clarke, head coach of the U23 ladies and assistant on the senior workforce, mentioned the match was terrific for the continued development of Edwards & Co., looking forward to the World Cup and past to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“There’s rather a lot to deal with if you’re enjoying at house in a giant occasion like this,” Clarke mentioned. “There’s distractions all over the place, there’s stress to carry out they usually dealt with it.

“Placing all these items collectively, these are issues you must do on a World Cup stage or an Olympic stage. You will have to have the ability to deliver your finest when there’s rather a lot happening round you. I feel our workforce dealt with that very, very properly.”

Clarke gave the inaugural occasion a giant thumbs-up general.

“It has been superior. It is felt world-class the whole week,” Clarke mentioned.

Canada Basketball CEO Mike Bartlett mentioned the occasion, which is able to return to Toronto subsequent summer season, is an effective way to hook up with the sport’s future stars.

“I feel that may really propel this program, the ripple impact of that for the following 10 to fifteen years … when a few of them must make selections at instances to play for us or not,” Bartlett mentioned. “We’re in a spot the place we’re making a (sturdy) relationship with them.”

Canada Basketball desires of Globl Jam rising into basketball’s model of the world junior hockey championship, as each a money-maker and platform to develop the sport’s viewers in Canada.

The match won’t have drawn the crowds that organizers had hoped for — many of the Canada video games noticed Mattamy Athletic Centre lower than half-full. However Bartlett mentioned the basketball group embraced it. Amongst match spectators: Toronto Raptors’ NBA rookie of the 12 months Scottie Barnes, Oklahoma Metropolis guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Raptors executives Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster, members of the ladies’s senior basketball workforce, and Olympic swimming star Penny Oleksiak.

Bartlett mentioned FIBA was happy with the occasion, and the visiting groups mentioned they’d like to return subsequent summer season.

The Canadian 3×3 championships, held together with Globl Jam, drew massive crowds at close by Yonge-Dundas sq..

TIP-INS: Canada Basketball honoured its 2021 and 2022 Corridor of Fame class inductees throughout halftime, together with gamers Stewart Granger, Angela Straub, and Tony Simms, coach Michele Belanger, and builder John Bitove. Retired NBA stars Steve Nash and Rick Fox, who weren’t in attendance, have been additionally among the many inductees.

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed July 10, 2022.