Canadian women’s basketball team shows dominance against UCLA in Victoria

There were some exciting results for Canadian women’s basketball fans last night in Victoria.

The Canadian Senior Women’s Basketball Team put on a promising performance against the NCAA champion UCLA Bruins on Wednesday night at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

This match was a good gauge of the team’s skill before upcoming tournaments in which they hope to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The team had a good start to the night, going up 8-4 in the early minutes of the game.

UCLA came back strong, going up by as many as 11 points themselves in the first half, with a score of 26-15 with eight minutes left in the second quarter.

Canada showed grit and kept fighting, climbing their way back to lead at the half, 33-30.

After a short half-time break, during which the W̱SÁNEĆ middle schools all girls basketball team took to the floor for their own strong performance, the Canadian women turned up the heat.

The team was locked in from the moment they took to the floor in the second half. Early in the third quarter, Canada went up by 11 points themselves, going on an 8-0 scoring run and putting the score at 41-30.

By the end of the third quarter, UCLA managed to claw back some ground. Going into the fourth quarter the scoreboard read 50-45.

Both teams turned up the intensity in the building, and despite the friendly nature of the contest, competitive spirit took over.

Defenses tightened and the game sped up, but Team Canada came ready to play.

With four minutes left and a score of 60-50, the game was still within reach for the UCLA women.

That is, until Canada’s own Syla Swords decided enough was enough. With a sneaky assist to Kayla Alexander followed by back-to-back three pointers of her own, Swords iced the game and put Team Canada up 18 points with less than two minutes left to play.

With a final score of 69-55, the game left Canadian fans feeling hopeful for the team’s chances heading into the next stages of their journey to the Olympic games.

The team’s next test will be against Senegal on Monday, August 17th in Guadalajara, Mexico where they hope to impress again—only this time, the stakes will be higher.