Preview >> USA Women Face No. 4 Seed Canada In Quarterfinals

Heading into the quarterfinals as a No. 1 seed from Group A, the USA faces the No. 4 seed from Group B, Canada (2-3).

While the USA was undefeated in pool play, Canada was up and down throughout. Canada lost to Russia, 58-53, to open the tournament, beat Great Britain 73-65 on day two, fell to France 64-60, and then topped Brazil 79-73 before losing to Australia 72-63.

Regardless of records, the game is a win-or-go-home contest, and the winner advances to the semifinals.

Get ready with our preview.

• Game Notes
• All-Time USA Basketball Women's Teams Scores

Scouting Report:

Marynell Meadors (USA assistant coach, Atlanta Dream head coach)
What type of team is Canada?
Canada runs the Princeton offense, that is basically what it is, and everybody is in motion all the time. So, there is never anytime when they stop and then all of the sudden they send up a screen. They are always moving. Even if they are on the weak side, they are screening down and coming up, they are doing curl cuts, they are doing all kinds of of things. They screen away from the ball, and they do flare screens, so we've got to be really alert. And if we switch on defense, we've got to do that immediately because they will cut and get a layup.

Is there an area where we should attack them?
I think the No. 1 thing we need to do is to rebound the ball and run. I don't think they are as deep as we are, and I think that we can take advantage of that and tire them out. They are a very competitive team, and they won't stop. They'll keep playing all the way to the very end. They have been in a lot of close games, had big leads and lost them, but they just never quit. They never say die. They've got two really good shooters in Kim Smith and Shona Thorburn. Shona comes in off the bench, and when they play them together, they are usually on opposite sides of the court, and we need to make sure we know where they are at all times.

Do you expect them to play zone or matchup with us on defense?
They have played 95.0 percent man defense, so I look for them to do that. I think they may press us a little bit, but I think they are really afraid that if they do press us, then we are going to shoot layups all night, and that's a good possibility. So, I expect them to try and slow the game down and try to keep the game in the 60s. They do that by running their half court offenses. They really don't want to get into transition, unless it's wide open. If it is wide open they will take it, but otherwise they will set it up and run their offense.