U.S. beats Canada 77-76 in women's wheelchair basketball world championship final The United States defeated Canada 77-76 on a late free throw in the gold-medal game of the women's wheelchair basketball world championship in Ottawa. Canada's Kady Dandeneau scored a game-high 34 points in the one-point loss. The United States defeated Canada 77-76 in the gold-medal game of the women's wheelchair basketball world championship on Saturday at TD Place in Ottawa. Courtney Ryan hit the game-winning free throw with 20.8 seconds remaining in regulation after a late foul put her on the line. Canada's Kady Dandeneau led all scorers with 34 points and took responsibility for the foul that decided the game."That was particularly hard," Dandeneau said. "It was my fault that we got that foul and it proved to be the difference and that sucks. " Dandeneau finished 15-for-34 from the field with 13 rebounds, five assists, one steal and one blocked shot. Both teams entered the final with identical 5-0 records.Canada started strong, jumping out to a 27-20 lead after the first quarter. Veteran Arinn Young was solid in the opening quarter, scoring 15 of Canada's 27 points, including a pair of three-pointers. She finished with 30 points, going 10-for-22 with 10 rebounds."It was a tough first quarter," said American Lindsey Zurbrugg. "Mad respect to Canada. I think we made some really good adjustments after that. I think like tiny adjustments of our chairs was the defensive edge we needed." Zurbrugg had a team-high 26 points, seven assists and two rebounds for the U.S. Aside from the first quarter, it was a fairly even game with 14 lead changes. Canada held a 41-38 lead at the half. Young led Canada with 22 first-half points and six assists, going a perfect 8-for-8 from the line. The Americans pushed back in the third quarter, but Canada made a late run to take a one-point lead, 60-59, heading into the fourth."When you get into a world championship every team is good and you have to have that resilience and character to be down and be able to fight back," said Jeremy Lade, head coach of the U.S. women's team. "We've shown that in a few different games. We've shown the ability to score on offence and get the stops on defence. We made mistakes today, but we built enough character to be able to bounce back from mistakes." The U.S. opened a seven-point lead, 71-64, with just over three minutes remaining in regulation. Canada came back to tie the game 76-76 with 39.1 seconds remaining. Canada held a notable advantage at the foul line, going 9-for-9 in the first half compared to the Americans going 2-for-3."We talk a lot about basketball being a game of runs and you want to mitigate their runs and maximize ours," said Canadian head coach Joey Johnson. "And credit to the U.S. they had a one-point longer run than we did. " Canada hasn't won a medal at a world championship since 2014, when the tournament was last held on Canadian soil. Young was a rookie at that tournament."It's really hard to put into words what it means to be able to play on home soil twice," Young said. "I'm so thankful. Thankful to our fans, my team and our staff. Without them we wouldn't have this, so I guess that's the silver lining to everything." Canada last met the United States in a gold-medal game at a major competition at the 2023 Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile, where Canada took silver. The tournament featured 17 different countries, with 15 teams on the men's side and 12 on the women's. This marked the first time the men's and women's world championships were held concurrently. Canada's men's team went 1-3 in the tournament.