August 3, 2011
Williams helps Canada to 5th place finish at U19 World Championships
PUERTO MONTT, Chile – Lancer point guard Korissa Williams had 11 points to help the Canadian Junior Women’s National Team to a fifth-place finish at the FIBA U19 World Championships, defeating France 70-52.
Despite losing to Spain in the quarter-finals and missing a chance to compete for a medal, Canada rebounded on Sunday and head coach Rich Chambers was proud of the way his squad recovered to finish fifth.
“A Canadian team has never won eight games at a world championship,” he said. “Though it was disappointing to lose to Spain, on that day they were the better team.”
Williams also felt strongly about the performance of her team and the impressive level of competition she faced every day in the tournament.
“International basketball is nothing like I expected, it's very challenging,” Williams said. “I love my team. We've only been together less than a month but we have so much chemistry.”
Canada played exceptionally well throughout the tournament, winning a record eight games and losing only once. A big part of the team’s strong play has been its stalwart defence and this game was no different.
Canada’s Nirra Fields scored a game-high 18 points and came up with five steals, while Michelle Plouffe of Edmonton scored 14 points for Canada.
Adja Konteh led France with 14 points while Clarince Djaldi-Tabdi recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“We're proud of how we came out to play today,” Plouffe said after the game. “We've played great basketball through the tournament and we came together to battle through these last two games.
“We've played the best teams in the world and played our best basketball and [even though] it was extremely disappointing to lose the quarter-final game we finished strong and we're proud of that.”
The Canadians managed to force France to commit 22 turnovers on a combined 17 steals, including five by Fields. This limited the French women to 10 fewer field goals and also put Canada on the line 24 times, figures that proved to be the difference in the contest.
Even though the score was lopsided, Chambers had nothing but respect for his French opponents.
“We have admired France's program for many years,” Chambers said. “They play a great brand of basketball and we try to emulate that, therefore I would like to congratulate France for their great tournament.”
Courtesy of Canada Basketball
