Olympic women’s basketball qualifier: Canada cannot dwell on poor shooting vs. France

For now, hanging in with France while unable to put the ball in the ocean will do for Canada's women's basketball team at the last-chance Olympic women's basketball qualifier.

Considering that Canada lost to France by 25 in a tune-up game before the London 2012 qualifier in Ankara, Turkey, losing 56-47 on Tuesday while shooting only an effective 23.8 per cent from the floor is encouraging. The loss means Canada (1-1 at the event) will likely face the winner of Wednesday's Korea-Croatia game in Friday's quarter-final instead of the losing team. They'll be able to scout their next opponent and rest before playing for the country's first Olympic hoops berth since 2004.

Not enough went right early against France. Canada missed its first seven shots. On the night, they outrebounded France and have fewer turnovers vs. a very athletic French team. Yet they stayed within single digits despite the frustration factor.

"When we describe our team as a group, one of the words we use is relentless," ," said veteran shooting guard Alisha Tatham, who had six points in 16 minutes. "We were pretty relentless tonight. That's what got us those rebounds and the defensive plays [which kept Canada in the game] and that's what we showed tonight."

"We're a team that doesn't really dwell on negative things as much," the Brampton native added in reference to Canada shooting 14-of-61 from the floor, including 1-for-8 from three-point land. "I think that it happened today and it's out of our hands now and we're just looking forward to the next game.

Shona Thorburn and Tamara Tatham each had seven points for Canada. Krista Phillips had six and also took down a team-high eight rebounds. No one in red and white, though, was able to avoid the shooting woes.

"I don't think it was nerves," Alisha Tatham said. "Not every game are you going to get a high percentage shooting game. It was just today that it happened. It's not going to happen again."

Long-time Canadian coach Alison McNeill chalked the poor shooting up to a combination of the France's athleticism and length and the law of averages.

"I was happy with how we battled today," McNeill said. "I think it was a combination of us missing shots and their length. We just have to shoot everything quicker."

"A couple times it was, 'if we could just get [the deficit] to six [points], if we could just get it to four,' " McNeill added. "I was pretty happy with how we executed to get good shots and maybe we can take that positive into the quarter-finals."

Canada, as far as quarter-final matchups go, is more familiar with Croatia than Korea. They will have 24 hours' more rest than their opponent, which can be manna. The fast-paced FIBA game requires coaches to use a much deeper rotation than one would see in North America, be it NBA, WNBA or NCAA. The extra rest could come in handy for the likes of 32-year-old point guard Teresa Gabriele and guard Kim Smith and forward Lizanne Murphy, each 28.

"We're not an old team, but we have a couple of older athletes so these two days off are going to be really good for us," McNeill said.

(Below, Canada small forward Tamara Tatham discusses the performance with FIBA.com.)

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.