Canada lost to Brazil 65-56 this morning. Nurse scored 6 points and grabbed 2 rebounds. For the 3-game tournament, Nurse scored 19 points and grabbed 10 boards.
Some observations on her game: It's easy to forget Kia is 17 years old playing against older, more experienced international players. She's in this situation because she's mature enough to handle it. She never looked overwhelmed and shouldn't be overwhelmed playing on college basketball's biggest stage. The experience she is gaining will far exceed anything others have gained playing AAU ball.
She has good size and above-average speed; she handles the ball well and seems to enjoy playing defense. She shoots well from mid-range, and not as well on 3-pointers. The FIBA 3-point line is farther from the hoop than the 3-point line in college so that might help her shooting at UConn. She's an aggressive, physical player who is not afraid to mix it up and is willing to set screens to get her teammates open. When Canada's offense broke down Nurse often would take the ball to the hoop without much success. I'm sure she was trying to draw contact and get to the foul line. She'll learn when it's good to do that.
Nurse will be playing with a lot more talent at UConn than she's currently playing with on Team Canada. She should be a very good player at UConn. How good and how much she plays as a freshman will depend on her ability to make shots.
