The Canadian women's wheelchair basketball team captured a bronze medal Saturday with a 59-49 victory over Australia at a world tournament in Birmingham, England.
Canada reached the podium for the fifth straight tournament after having won the past four.
Canada rallied from an 11 point deficit in the opening quarter to outscore Australia 40-20 in the second half. The Canadians seemed to get better as the game went on revving up their offence from an eight point output in the first quarter to a 21 point surge in the fourth quarter.
Vancouver's Janet McLachlan dropped 18 points and collected 20 rebounds to notch her seventh double-double in seven games. McLachlan led all players in the tournament in both categories and finished Saturday with a game-high seven assists.
Canada's first lead of the game came with just over six minutes remaining when Elaine Allard of St. Eustache, Que., sent a beautiful pass to McLachlan for an easy finish. The turning point came midway through a 13-point Canadian run that provided Canada with a comfortable eight-point lead. Australia was unable to recover and would only score five points in the final five minutes of play.
"We played really well against the USA in the semifinals and it was a tough game to lose," said McLachlan. "So we wanted to come out here today and keep playing well.
"The team has taken a few big steps since Beijing and we want to keep moving and keep taking those steps as we look forward to London [2012 Paralympics]."
The Canadian men, also defending champions, finished the tournament in seventh place.
