
June 26, 2024 Victoria, BC ( ISN ) – Women’s international basketball returned to Save-On_Foods Arena Wednesday night as the Canadian women’s basketball team hosted the “W’Hoop It Up” friendly against Portugal, claiming victory in the match-up with a 91-win over the FIBA 46th– ranked Portuguese in a pre-Olympic tune-up.

This is the second consecutive summer the team has train in “The Garden City” after hosting the Rim2Rim exhibition series last summer against Japan in Victoria, which set a record for the largest home-game attendance with over 4,600 fans.
The Canadian women, sitting 5th in the FIBA world standings, used Victoria the past week for training camp, sharpening their game prior to departing for Europe in early July. In preparation for the Olympics, Canada will also play exhibition games against Spain and Belgium before moving onto Paris where they will draw the host team in their pool-play game.
Wednesday night the Canadians led by eight, 25-17, after the opening quarter. They outscored Portugal 20-10 in the second to take an 18-point lead, 45-27, into the halftime break.
Canada shot a blistering 66 percent in the first half as they built their lead. They maintained their lead after the break, pushing on both ends, in spite of their advantage. A deep three from Swords, followed by a layup and a three from Fields kept the pace. Another three, this one from Keishana Washington, helped the Canadians head into the final quarter with a 68-48 advantage.
The fourth quarter was more of the same as the Canadians continued to push until the final buzzer. A three-pointer from Avery Howell at the buzzer meant that every player on the roster got into the scoring column in the victory.
Playing in front of Canadian fans on home soil, Nirra Fields led the way with an 18-point performance for Team Canada, while team captain Natalie Achonwa added 16 points and Syla Swords scored 11 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Yvonne Ejim added nine rebounds in the win.

“I think we played really well,” Fields said. “I think there were times where we weren’t doing what we were supposed to be doing on defence, we lacked a little bit there, but overall, we did well on offence and defence throughout the whole game.”
While Canada has had a full gym for training camp, they are without Laeticia Amihere, Bridget Carleton, Aaliyah Edwards and Kia Nurse as the four are still with their respective WNBA teams in advance of the league’s three-week break that will take place during the Olympics.
Achonwa’s 16 points came on 7-for-8 shooting as she played in her first game since the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament this past February.
“It was amazing for me to get to play against someone else and not beat up on our own teammates,” Achonwa said. “[It was also a] good opportunity for everyone to show the work that we’ve put in and that confidence that Víctor has in all of us, because he sees us every day grinding it out in practice.”
The Canadian women, sit 5th in the FIBA world standings, used Victoria the past week for training camp, sharpening their game prior to departing for Europe in early July. In preparation for the Olympics, Canada will also play exhibition games against Spain and Belgium before moving onto Paris where they will draw the host team in their pool-play game.
In February, Canada went 1-2 at the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Sopron, Hungary, to successfully qualify for their eighth appearance in the tournament since women’s basketball debuted at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.