Arrin Young – submitted Morinville News file photo
by Morinville News Staff
The Canadian Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball Team, including Legal’s Arrin Young, defeated the United States 82-56 on Tuesday evening to claim the gold medal at the 2017 Americas Cup qualifier in Cali, Colombia. Young secured 15 of the team’s 82-point tally.
Both teams took off to a slow start, but Canada found their stride first with Cindy Ouellet of Quebec City securing a 15-3 lead by the end of the first quarter.
The match continued after halftime with both teams exchanging baskets, but with the Canadians slowly widening the gap to keep the Americans from the top of the podium.
“We came out here to do a job and that was to get a gold medal and now that we have it it’s a great feeling. To play on the international stage and represent Canada is a tremendous honour,” said Team Canada’s Kady Dandeneau of Pender Island, B.C. “Cali has been awesome and playing in this tournament has been a great experience that I’ve loved every minute of and it’s wonderful to end it with a gold medal. At the 2018 World Championships, we’re looking to do exactly what we did here today so we’re going to put a lot of work in to improve over the coming year.”
Team Canada veteran Ouellet led the Canadians with game-high 35 points and Arinn Young (Legal, Alberta.) added 15 points with seven rebounds. Rosalie Lalonde (St Clet, Que.) and Dandeneau each contributed 11 points for Canada.
