Canada's U19 women's basketball team has been powering its way though the World Cup competition in Italy. At the end of group play it had a 3-0 record, including a thriller over Latvia, and in the round of 16 Canada disposed of Mexico. But if it wants to win the gold, up next in the knockout round is China, followed likely by Russia and the United States. Here are 15 things you probably don't know about the basketball teams of the three world powers standing in the way of a Canada team that features the likes of Aislinn Konig, Hailey Brown, Angela Bongomin and Alyssa Jerome, among others.
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China
1. At 6'9", Xu Han of China is the tallest player in the tournament. Yueru Li, Han's backup, is the second tallest, at 6'7".
2. China's only loss in the tournament came at the hands of the United States, in group play.
3. The Chinese defeated Egypt 85-43 to advance to the quarterfinal matchup against Canada.
4. In 2005, China earned the bronze medal. The third-place finish remains the only time the country's U19 team has earned a medal.
5. In 2019, China will host the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Russia
1. In its second game of the tournament, against Spain, Russia committed the most improbable blooper of the tournament. After the ball was sent out of bounds under Spain's basket, Russia took the inbounds play. The players were confused on which basket was theirs and ultimately scored on their own hoop — a long 3-pointer to add insult to injury.
2. Maria Vadeeva is Russia's leading scorer, so she's used to taking on all challenges. She once made a bet with her brother that she could dunk in a game before she turned 18. "It meant that he would have to buy me a car if I did it and if I didn’t do it, then I would have to buy him one," she explained. Well, Vadeeva's birthday — July 16 — came and went with no success of dunking. Instead of her brother riding off into the sunset, Vadeeva said the two have compromised to one day build their grandmother a house.
3. In group play, Russia defeated Egypt 114-63, one of the most dominating performances in the tournament .
4. Russia is on a mission to finish its mission. It reached the gold medal game in 2015, but lost to the United States.
5. Madeeva and Raisa Musina are among the tournament's top scorers. Madeeva averages 15.5 points per game and Musina 13.3.
United States
1. Since 2005, the United States hasn't let a gold medal slip away in this event. The United States has won gold in the last six tournaments.
2. The United States' largest margin of victory so far this time around came against Puerto Rico, 104-46.
3. The United States is led by head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio. In 2004, McConnell-Serio won the WNBA's Coach of the Year honors with the Minnesota Lynx. She is currently the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh women's team.
4. The Americans have unique team-building exercises! They occasionally channel their inner-Gordon Ramsay and hold a cooking competition to build camaraderie.
5. The last loss the United States suffered against the U19 Canada women came in 2011