Canadian women's basketball team books spot in Olympic qualifying tournament

The Canadian women's basketball team has registered for the preliminary Olympic qualifiers. With a 70-53 victory against Colombia, the Canadian women's basketball team confirmed their spot in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in February. Bridget Carleton was the top scorer for the Canadian team with 21 points, leading her team to a second consecutive win in the pre-qualifying games against Colombia. Carleton also had 10 defensive rebounds in this victory.

Kyle Alexander, with 20 points and 14 rebounds, was a dominant force against their American opponents. Coach Victor Lapano commented on Alexander's performance, saying, "I have to say, Kyle was the key to the game. The key was to always attack them on offense and maintain a strong defense. She did an excellent job, especially when defending against number 6 [Yuliani Paz], which is very challenging."

In terms of offense, we played position by position and read the situation, sending the ball towards the basket from the free-throw line. Especially when we couldn't score, she grabbed offensive rebounds. She is one of our captains and leaders. She was excellent." Manuela Reyes and Jennifer Munoz had 16 and 14 points respectively. The Canadian team will face Puerto Rico on the final day of the competition, which is Monday. Puerto Rico emerged victorious on Friday with a score of 65-57 against Venezuela.

Lapano commented on their upcoming game against Puerto Rico, saying, "What we need to do now is think that the next game against Puerto Rico is very important for us to improve the team. For me, it's not over yet. We have to see tomorrow, we have to improve, we have to perform better, and we have to look forward to February. We have to enjoy this moment and then evaluate what we need to do for February."

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