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Carleton scores eight as Canada qualifies for third straight Olympics

Canada’s women’s basketball team booked its trip to the 2020 Tokyo Games with an 80-50 win over Sweden on Saturday in Ostend, Belgium.

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Canada’s women’s basketball team has booked its trip to the 2020 Tokyo Games.

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Bridget Carleton of Chatham had eight points, four rebounds and two assists in Canada’s 80-50 win over Sweden on Saturday at the final FIBA Olympic qualifier in Ostend, Belgium.

Chatham-born Miranda Ayim of London had 10 points and three rebounds.

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Canada improved to 2-0 with the victory to clinch an Olympic berth.

Canada has qualified for three straight Olympics.

The team celebrated on the court after the win by holding a giant ticket that read, “Qualified.”

“We’ve experienced the whole gamut of qualification,” head coach Lisa Thomaidis said in a statement. “A last-minute, grind-it-out (qualification) in 2012, the last possible berth we eked out. Then onto 2016, where we took care of business in Canada and got it done, now for the first time in our tenure, to do it on foreign soil.

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“I just said to the team, to qualify with a 30-point victory is pretty special. I think it really speaks to how far this team has come. I couldn’t be happier for this team and these players.”

On Sunday, Canada finished unbeaten at the four-team tournament by defeating Olympic host Japan 70-68.

Carleton had six points and three rebounds. Ayim had six points, five rebounds and three assists.

On Saturday, Natalie Achonwa led Canada to the clinching win over Sweden with a game-high 16 points.

Canada led 37-31 at halftime and began pulling away in the third quarter. Achonwa credited Ayim with the team’s focus to start the second half.

“I think the energy we came with in the second half really set us apart,” Achonwa said in a statement. “That was our focus. I remember Miranda coming to us in the huddle and saying we needed to win the first three minutes (of the second half) and we did that by getting stops and staying aggressive on offence.”

Ayim will play in her third Olympics. Carleton will be at her first.

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