Pan Am Games – US literally throws away baseball gold against Canada

Moments after making history Monday night, Canada’s finest women’s basketball players stood arm in arm on the medal podium, belting out O Canada with all their might. “Emotion. Hard work pays off and honestly that’s what happened tonight”.

While the win was very much a coming out party for Canada’s youngsters, the team’s veterans were perhaps the happiest to finally have a gold medal.

On Monday night, Kia Nurse, the 19-year-old sister of Edmonton Oilers defence prospect Darnell, was a force of nature, scoring 33 points, adding six rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead Canada.

The women’s basketball team does not yet have the cachet of an Olympic medal, but the nucleus of gifted young players Thomaidis is constructing the team around have similar star power and certainly similar athletic gifts.

Earlier today, Cuba (3-2) edged Brazil (2-3) 66-62 for the bronze medal. “I’m more a true point guard”.

“It’s one of those things that you don’t realize how great it is until it’s over”, said Langlois, who is a Catholic Central high school product. With Canada risking collapse, it was Nurse who drove into traffic and connected on a tough layup, plus a foul, to steady her team. And when she went down in a massive collision with just under four minutes left, and was helped off the court, the crowd saluted her rock-solid performance with a standing ovation.

“We still have a lot of areas where we need to improve”, Thorburn said.

More of the same followed in the final as she proved too strong for Venezuelan opponent Alejandra Benitez, withstanding a late fightback to claim a 15-13 victory before admitting how hard it had been to play the two events back to back.

“I thought our women came out ready to play tonight”, said U.S. head coach Lisa Bluder (Iowa). “I can’t even describe the feeling”. The women’s best result was a silver in 1999 in Winnipeg. Canada has to win the tournament to earn an automatic berth, but the Americans have already booked their spot in Rio and won’t be there. It was Canadian Senior National Team’s second gold medal, and first since the 1995 FIBA Americas Championship (also that year’s Olympic qualifier) played in nearby Hamilton, Ontario.

Is Canada energized because it’s playing host to the Games? Heading into the final week of Toronto 2015, the more than 50 Island competitors here are closing in on the 21 medals that Island athletes won at the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The Americans – including Nurse’s UConn teammates Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson – dominated a frazzled-looking Canadian squad in the first quarter, taking a 23-13 lead into the second.

Team sports continue to take centre stage mid-week for local athletes at the Games.

The United States (4-1) and Canada (5-0) were tied at 36 at halftime, but playing in front of a rowdy home crowd inside the former Maple Leaf Gardens, Canada jumped ahead for good in the third quarter.

However, not everything about the Pan Am Games is pleasing the usually jovial Canadians, and the cause of their outrage can be pinpointed on one man; Kanye West.