Rhoden, Canadians Fall To Serbia At U19 Worlds Opener

July 26, 2007 | Women's Basketball

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia --- The Canadian National Team dropped a 79-63 decision in its opening game at the FIBA U19 World Championships on Thursday. Georgia Lady Bulldog Jaleesa Rhoden played 15 minutes in the contest but failed to score.

The Serbians opened up a 26-13 lead following the first quarter and maintained relatively the same advantage the rest of the way.

Rhoden, a 5-8, guard from London, Ontario, was seeing her first competitive action in 15 months. She tore the anterior cruciate ligament and the lateral meniscus in her right knee last spring and redshirted at Georgia during the 2006-07 season. Rhoden missed all five of her shots from the field but did dish out an assist.

Canada will return to action against Japan on Friday in the second of the three pool play games in Group C. The Japanese lost 109-91 to the Czech Republic in their opener on Thursday. The top three teams from each group will advance to classification rounds.