Tag: canada senior women national team

Canada finishes with a silver medal at the FIBA AmeriCup Tournament

Canada finishes in second place at FIBA Americas. Photo courtesy of FIBA
~ Aneela Khan ~ Leave a comment

*I know this blog post is one week late, and the medals already have been awarded and the results sorted but I got extremely busy last weekend and then got really lazy, so now I finally have written this blog post. Apologies to my blog readers who keep an eye on the Team Canada women’s basketball team*

Puerto Rico – The United States is golden once again, this time in the FIBA AmeriCup Tournament. Canada fought as it could, but the US proved too much for Team Canada to handle and they won the gold medal back from Canada. Canada was the two time defending champion in this tournament.

Both the US and Canada were playing in their fifth game in six days and exhaustion showed in the game. Canada was also down two key starters, centre Kayla Alexander and point guard Miah Marie Langlois. Kayla Alexander was brilliant for Team Canada in the first couple of games before going down with a leg injury in the semi final. Canada missed her production against the United States forwards. Kayla Alexander was also named one of the FIBA All Star Five for her performance at the tournament.

Nonetheless, Canada still fought as much as they could but the depth of the United States wore them off. Canada finished with a silver medal and qualified for the next round of FIBA Olympic qualifying which will take place in Edmonton, Alberta from Nov. 16th to Nov. 19th.  Canada needs to finish in the top six in that tournament to qualify for the last Olympic qualifier which will take place before the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

Canada proved their worth as a rising basketball nation as they have had worthy prospects playing both in the WNBA and NBA in the past few years and it speaks to Canada’s talent level that the US took part in this tournament since they rarely participate in them. Canada now has to put it’s roster together for November and it may include Kia Nurse and Natalie Achonwa, who did not participate in this FIBA Americas Tournament. Both of them are Team Canada standouts and if they are not on the roster in November, they definitely will be on the Olympic roster.

Canadian Senior Women’s National Team preview for FIBA AmeriCup Tournament

~ Aneela Khan ~ Leave a comment

The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team’s quest to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics starts tomorrow at the FIBA AmeriCup Tournament which is being held in Puerto Rico. This tournament is one of two qualifying tournaments that take place to qualify countries for the Olympics.

This tournament lasts for one week and a top 8 finish qualifies Canada for the next Olympic qualifying tournament which will take place in November. Canada is the defending champion in this tournament and will look to defend their title against fellow powerhouse United States. The US rarely plays in these qualifying tournaments but they are sending a team to compete. This tournament focuses on countries located in the Americas.

Canada is sending 12 players who have a variety of international experience, WNBA experience and several new players who are playing for Canada for the first time. They will need to integrate quickly in order for Canada to succeed. Canada’s first game is tomorrow against Mexico at 12:30 pm EST/9:30 pm PST. They then play Cuba on Monday, Puerto Rico on Tuesday and the Dominican Republic on Thursday. The semi finals and final take place on Sept 28th and Sept 29th.

Alot of the players that are currently playing in this tournament for Team Canada will have an opportunity to prove themselves and to make an impression so that they can be in consideration for other international tournaments as well as the FIBA World Cup/Olympics.

Canada is currently ranked 5th in the world and should do well in this tournament. Winning the title will be more difficult this time around but they should still finish among the top. The games will be available to watch on DAZN in Canada and ESPN+ in the US.

 

The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team – Road to the FIBA World Cup Part II

Kia Nurse, Photo courtesy of Canada Basketball
~ Aneela Khan ~ 1 Comment

NOTE: The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team has qualified for the upcoming FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup taking place from Sept 22 – 30th in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Leading up to the event, every month there will be a preview on the Canadian team. Last month, it was about Canada’s expectations for the World Championships. You can read it here.

Toronto – The road to the FIBA World Cup is still three months away, but that does not mean that the preparations have not started for the teams. In this preview, we will take a closer look at the Team Canada roster and who could be a part of it come September.

The following players were apart of the National FIBA AmeriCup roster last year that won the FIBA Americas.

Miranda Ayim, Bridget Carleton, Shay Colley, Nirra Fields, Ruth Hamblin, Sami Hill, Miah-Marie Langlois, Kia Nurse, Katherine Plouffe, Michelle Plouffe, Jamie Scott and Laura Dally.

All in all, 12 players made the Senior Women’s team roster. But, there were some important players missing. Some were not able to compete due to the WNBA schedule.  Some had college commitments.

If I take a closer look at the roster, I think about 8 or 9 of the above players will make the 2018 FIBA World Cup roster. It will also depend on how they play in training camp, which is known as Phase I and Phase 2.  If you look closely, you will see a familiar name missing in the roster. Natalie Achonwa is missing and she was unable to play last year due to her Indiana Fever commitments. Other players such as Kayla Alexander can crack the roster.  There are a ton more Canadian college players who are playing in the NCAA or CIS that could crack the final roster.

In order for Team Canada to do well in the FIBA World Cup, they will need a roster that needs the following: stars, glue players, defenders, and the sixth woman. Canada will get tested against the likes of other teams who have already begun practicing for the championships.

If I were to guess the final roster, it would like the following:

Miranda Ayim

Natalie Achonwa

Bridget Carleton

Miah Marie – Langlois

Nirra Fields

Ruth Hamblin

Kia Nurse

Katherine Plouffe

Michelle Plouffe

I think those names that I have listed above are guaranteed locks to make the roster. Most of them already have extensive Team Canada experience which should bode well for them in order to make the team. I have four spots left which I believe are wide open and there for the taking. Whoever plays well in the training camps and make an impression will be on the final roster.

The Canadian Women Senior National Team – Road to the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup

Canadian Senior National Team
~ Aneela Khan ~ 2 Comments

*Note: The Canadian Senior Women National Team is in action at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup taking place from September 22nd to September 30th. This is just part 1 of the previews of the team and a new preview will be posted monthly.

 

Toronto – The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team has a higher set of expectations coming into competition. They will be expected to fight for a medal and show the other countries that they are becoming one of the basketball powerhouses. The women’s team over the years have had great finishes and close games, but other than that, have not finished higher than third over 32 years ago in major international competitions such as the World Championships and the Summer Olympics.

The talent level has risen over the years and this current team is ranked 6th in the world by FIBA. This shows that the Canadian team is starting to make noise but in order to truly arrive, Canada needs to show it can be a medal threat along with the top countries that are participating.

Team Canada’s roster will be a mix of young players and veterans who must be ready to play against some of the top players in the world. It is not an easy task to put a team together and have a high set of expectations but this team needs to prove itself. Their recent history in other competitions shows that they can indeed be a medal threat, but on the world stage and more eyes watching, they will need to impress.

Team Canada’s competition will be tough but with the right mix of skill, defense, team play and chemistry they can be a force to be reckoned with come September.