FIBA
The Canadian women's 3×3 basketball team of Kacie Bosch, Paige Crozon, Katherine Plouffe and Michelle Plouffe began the 2024 FIBA Women's 3×3 Series season the same way they finished the previous – with a victory. The quartet won the first stage of the circuit in Springfield, United States, on Wednesday.
In action on the half-court of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Canadians won 20-18 in the final against the United States in a game that required all of ten minutes of regulation time.
In the first two minutes of the game, the Americans scored a two-point field goal and an unanswered one-point field goal from the Canadians to take a 5-2 lead. However, before the fifth minute, the Canadians made a few baskets to take an 8-7 lead.
The penalty shootout had a big impact on the second half of the match. Neither team had more than a one-point lead until Michelle Plouffe took two penalty shots with 2 minutes 38 seconds left. The Americans responded, Burdick made two penalty shots about a minute later to tie the score at 17-17, but a two-point basket from Crozon gave her team the lead again. Burdick scored another point, but a response from Katherine Plouffe with 15 seconds remaining complicated the United States' eventual comeback, as the Americans failed to score on their final possession.
Before facing the Americans in the final, the Canadians beat another American team, Springfield, 21-13 in the semifinals earlier Wednesday. In Tuesday's round robin, the Canadians won all three of their matches, beating Puerto Rico 21-10, Germany 21-14 and Springfield 18-15.
In September 2023, the Canadian women's 3×3 basketball team won the FIBA Women's 3×3 Series Final Tournament for the second year in a row. During the season, they won five tour tournaments.
The quartet of Kacie Bosch, Paige Crozon, Katherine Plouffe and Michelle Plouffe will have the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic 3×3 basketball tournament at the FIBA 3×3 Universal Olympic Qualifying Tournament from 3-5 May in Utsunomiya, Japan. where a women's team will qualify for Paris 2024. Three more Olympic tournament spots will be on the line in Debrecen, Hungary, May 16-19. Four countries have already qualified: China, France, Azerbaijan and the United States.
