TORONTO -- Canada won its first ever gold medal at the Pan American Games on Monday night as the quest for gold for WKU head coach Michelle Clark-Heard and the USA squad came up short in an 81-73 loss to the host nation.
Clark-Heard was one of two assistant coaches on the squad this summer, earning a Silver Medal in her first ever coaching experience at the international level. She was joined on the coaching staff by head coach Lisa Bluder of the University of Iowa and fellow assistant coach Scott Rueck of Oregon State University.
The USA squad, comprised of the nation's top collegiate players, was facing off against the national teams from various participating nations. The USA has already qualified for the upcoming Olympic games, thus allowing the collegiate players to represent the country as part of continued development opportunities for the nation's elite players.
Canada star and UConn sophomore-to-be Kia Nurse had her best game of her International career -- scoring 33 points and grabbing six rebounds in the win.
Canada led 9-8 midway through the first quarter before the USA ended the period on a 15-4 run. It allowed the United States to take a 23-13 advantage into the first quarter break as six different players scored in the opening 10 minutes.
Canada fought back and erased the double-digit deficit in the second quarter, taking a 31-30 lead on an impressive basket in transition from Nirra Fields and extended the lead to three at 33-30 on a basket from former Notre Dame and current WNBA star Natalie Achonwa. The run to get back into the game was aided by the Canadian efforts from the free throw line as 13 of their first 29 points came at the charity stripe, knocking down 13 straight from the line to that point.
The teams went to the locker room tied at 36-36 after the USA team held Canada to just 30 percent shooting from the field to overcome their eight first half turnovers that resulted in six Canada points. The Canadian effort in the first half was also aided by their defense on Breanna Stewart, scoring five of the USA's first 10 points of the game before being held scoreless the rest of the half.
Canada scored the first seven points out of the locker room to go up 43-36 before Stewart connected from downtown for her first three-point field goal of the game to end the run. Achonwa later connected on a three-point play to extend the lead to 48-39 with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter and another bucket from the WNBA star with 4:43 left gave the USA a double-digit deficit for the second consecutive game at 50-39.
The Canada lead later reached its highest point at 18, a 62-44 deficit for the USA late in the third quarter before the USA scored the final seven points of the third quarter. Canada led 62-51 after three quarters of play.
The USA continued to fight back -- scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter to cut it to five at 62-57. Nurse then found Canada's first points of the fourth quarter with 6:26 on a strong move to the basket that resulted in a three-point play to stall the USA run.
Canada got the lead back to double-digits before gutting out the win in the final minutes.
In just three seasons at WKU as head coach, Clark-Heard has won two conference tournament championships and a regular season conference title while posting 76 wins, the most in a coaches' first three seasons in WKU women's basketball or men's basketball history.
Clark-Heard, the 2015 Conference USA Coach of the Year and a 2015 Pat Summitt Trophy award finalist, led her alma mater to a 30-5 mark in 2014-15, setting a new Conference USA record for wins in a season and posting the second 30-win season in WKU history.
ABOUT USA BASKETBALL: Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA Basketball, chaired by Jerry Colangelo, is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men's and women's basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the U.S. by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA-sponsored international competitions, as well as for some national competitions, and for the development of youth basketball initiatives that address player development, coach education and safety.
USA Basketball men's and women's teams between 2012-14 compiled a spectacular 122-4 win-loss record in FIBA and FIBA Americas competitions, the World University Games and the Nike Hoop Summit, and posted a 65-8 win-loss record in official FIBA and FIBA Americas 3x3 competitions.
USA teams are the current men's and women's champions in the Olympics; men's FIBA World Cup and women's FIBA World Championship; men's and women's FIBA U19 and U17 World Championships; men's and women's U18 and U16 FIBA Americas Championships; the Nike Hoop Summit; the FIBA 3x3 Women's World Championship; the FIBA 3x3 Women's U18 World Championship and the women's Youth Olympic Games. USA Basketball currently ranks No. 1 in all five of FIBA's world-ranking categories, including combined, men's, women's, boys and girls.
Connect with USA Basketball on facebook/usabasketball, twitter/usabasketball, youtube/usab, plus.google/+usabasketball and instagram.com/usabasketball.
Group A - USA (3-0), Brazil (2-1), Puerto Rico (1-2), Dominican Republic (0-3)
Group B - Canada (3-0), Cuba (2-1), Argentina (1-2), Venezuela (0-3)
Pool play record in parenthesis.
Thursday, July 16
Cuba 68, Argentina 55
Puerto Rico 76, Dominican Republic 54
Canada 101, Venezuela 38
USA 75, Brazil 69
Friday, July 17
Cuba 73, Venezuela 62
Brazil 62, Puerto Rico 57
Canada 73, Argentina 58
USA 94, Dominican Republic 55
Saturday, July 18
Argentina 87, Venezuela 68
Brazil 73, Dominican Repiblic 54
Canada 71, Cuba 68
USA 93, Puerto Rico 77
Semifinals
Sunday, July 19
Venezuela 72, Dominican Republic 56 (7th Place Game)
USA 65, Cuba 64 (Semifinal)
Canada 91, Brazil 63 (Semifinals)
Argentina 77, Puerto Rico 56 (5th Place Game)
Finals
Monday, July 20
Cuba 66, Brazil 62 (Bronze Medal Game)
Canada 81, USA 73 (Gold Medal Game)
All times listed are ET and are local to site.
All Games will be played at the Ryerson Athletic Center.
