Canada falls to Spain, U.S., dropping to 3-3 in Olympic women's 3x3 basketball

Canada's record fell to 3-3 in Olympic women's 3x3 basketball play following a pair of overtime losses to the United States and Spain on Friday.

The Canadians were undone by a pair of buzzer-beater shots in both games.

In the opener, Rhyne Howard, who plays for the WNBA's Atlanta Dream, scored a two-pointer as time expired in OT to give the U.S. (3-3) an 18-17 win.

Canada scored first in OT on a short shot by Edmonton's Katherine Plouffe before Howard, who was 0-for-5 from long range in regulation, drained the winning basket.

"Good step-back. She got some space," Plouffe said of the winning shot.

She added the loss did nothing to shake Canada's confidence.

"They are all good teams here, and we do not expect to come out [of the group stage] 7-0," Plouffe said.

"We know we are a solid team, and everyone is scared to play us."

WATCH l Full event replay: Canada falls to U.S. in 3x3 basketball:

Women's 3x3 basketball pool round: U.S. vs. Canada

4 months ago

Duration 28:06

Watch U.S. take on Canada in women's 3x3 basketball pool round action at Paris 2024.

But Canada was dealt further heartbreak in the day's final game when Spain's Sandra Ygueravide drained a two-pointer at the buzzer in a 22-20 OT win over Canada.

Michelle Plouffe, Katherine's twin sister, scored a game-high 11 points in the loss.

She made a basket followed by a free throw to put Canada up 19-18 with 31 seconds remaining in regulation.

But Ygueravide made a two-pointer seconds later to give Spain the lead. Plouffe forced overtime when she drove for a layup to tie it at 20-20 with 15 seconds left.

Ygueravide made four two-pointers in a game where Spain was 6 of 12 from beyond the arc.

"They're a seasoned team. We've been battling with them for years, so we knew that it was going to be a battle, and I'm really proud of our efforts," said Paige Crozon, of Lethbridge, Alta., who had three points for Canada.

"I think we could have cleaned up some of the few of their offensive rebounds, but I think defensively, we were so strong, and the battle we were getting, it was really physical. We were getting hit down low and we unfortunately weren't getting the calls tonight, but we're able to be resilient and battle back."

Spain improved to 4-2 and now sits second behind Germany (5-1) in the preliminary pool.

Canada, tied for fifth in the eight-team competition, finishes pool play on Saturday against Azerbaijan (2-4).

The top two teams in the pool advance to the semifinals, while the next four participate in play-in games on Saturday.

The tournament wraps up Monday with the semifinals and medal games.

Canada's Simpson cracks top 5 in women's BMX

Saya Sakakibara won the gold medal in the women's BMX racing on Friday night, shortly after her partner Romain Mahieu took bronze to complete a French sweep of the men's race.

Sakakibara beat American rider Alise Willoughby to the first corner and was never tested again, cruising through the jumps and bumps to the gold medal. Manon Veenstra of the Netherlands took silver, and Zoe Claessens of Switzerland won bronze.

Canada's Molly Simpson, who won silver at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games, finished fifth in the final. A second place finish in the semifinal clinched the Red Deer, Alta., native the chance to race for a medal. 

Willoughby, the three-time world champion, was shuffled back after the first corner and finished sixth. Bethany Shriever of Britain, the reigning Olympic champion, was never in the medal mix and finished last in the eight-rider finals.

Slovakia's Tamara Potocka collapses after heat race

Slovakia swimmer Tamara Potocka collapsed poolside after a qualifying heat of the women's 200-metre individual medley and was given first aid and then carried off on a stretcher.

Potocka collapsed as she got out of the water and almost immediately was surrounded by a half-dozen medical attendants who put her on a stretcher after about a minute and carried her off the pool deck. 

Potocka finished seventh in her heat in a time of two minutes 14.20 seconds. Her time was not fast enough to advance her to the semifinals of the event, which eliminated her from the competition.

Argentina, U.S. eliminated from men's soccer

An early goal was enough for France to beat Argentina 1-0 and reach the men's soccer semifinals at the Paris Olympics on Friday, in a match where the Argentines were booed throughout by a hostile home crowd.

Fighting broke out between the players after the final whistle.

Earlier on Friday, The United States is out of men's soccer after getting routed 4-0 by Morocco in the quarterfinals.

The Americans — in the Games for the first time since Beijing 2008 — were outclassed by Morocco, which reached the semifinals at the Olympics for the first time.

"It's sad because I think it's a group that has a lot of belief in each other and a lot of character and I don't think it showed through," defender Walker Zimmerman said. "That's what's hard is knowing how much everyone did care [and] had each other's back."