TORONTO, Ont. (September 8, 2019) - Canada Basketball is pleased to announce the 16 athletes invited to attend Senior Women’s National Team training camp ahead of the FIBA Women's AmeriCup 2019.
“The FIBA Women's AmeriCup is the official start of our Tokyo Olympic qualification process, so I know we’re all excited to get back together and continue this journey,” said Lisa Thomaidis, Head Coach, Senior Women’s National Team. “Our experiences earlier this summer have enabled us to fine tune our processes so that we can hit the ground running. As always, representing Canada is such a huge honour for all of us and we’re excited to get going.”
The FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2019 will be played September 22-29 in San Juan's historic Coliseo Roberto Clemente and fans in Canada can catch all the action live on DAZN. Canada is in Group A for the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup along with Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico, and hosts, Puerto Rico.
“We are looking forward to starting our Tokyo Olympic qualification process with training camp in Edmonton, the home of Canada’s Senior Women’s National Team, and to have more time to continue the team’s growth to compete against the best teams in the world as we pursue our Olympic goals,” said Denise Dignard, Director Women's High Performance.
Entering the tournament as two-time defending FIBA AmeriCup champions, Canada will look to make it three straight later this month at the FIBA Women's AmeriCup 2019. Canada has found a spot on the podium in seven of the last eight competitions dating back to the 2003 FIBA Americas Championship for Women in Culiacan, Mexico.
The FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2019 will begin with a Group Phase, where teams play round-robin format for four days. The top two teams from each group advance to the semifinals of the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2019, where the top team of Group A will play the second team of Group B and the top team of Group B will play the second team of Group A. The winners of the semifinals will go-on to play for the continental title on September 29.
As part of the Women's National Team Competition System, the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2019 will qualify the top 8 teams to the FIBA Women’s Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments in November.
The FIBA Women's Pre-Qualifying Tournaments in Americas will qualify the top four teams for the four global FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2020, taking place in February 2020. Canada will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with a top two three finish in their group in the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2020.
A full list of athletes, coaches and team schedule can be found below.
Media interested in attending training camp can email Matt Walker (mwalker@basketball.ca) for additional information.
Canada is currently ranked 5th worldwide in the FIBA World Ranking Presented by NIKE.
SENIOR WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM FIBA WOMEN’S AMERICUP 2019 TRAINING CAMP INVITES
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="818"><tbody><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p><strong>Name</strong></p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p><strong>Position</strong></p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p><strong>Height</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Hometown</strong></p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p><strong>2019-2020 Club / School</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Natalie Achonwa</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Forward</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'3"</p></td><td><p>Guelph, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Indiana Fever (WNBA)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Kayla Alexander</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Forward</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'4"</p></td><td><p>Milton, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Chicago Sky (WNBA) / Cukurova Mersin (Turkey)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Laeticia Amihere</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Forward</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'4"</p></td><td><p>Mississauga, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>South Carolina (NCAA)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Miranda Ayim</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Forward</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'3"</p></td><td><p>London, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Basket Landes (France)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Bridget Carleton</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Guard</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'1"</p></td><td><p>Chatham, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Minnesota Lynx (WNBA) / Townsville Fire (Australia)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Shay Colley</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Guard</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">5'9"</p></td><td><p>Brampton, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Michigan State (NCAA)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Quinn Dornstauder</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Centre</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'4"</p></td><td><p>Regina, SK</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Zamarat (Spain)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Aaliyah Edwards</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Forward</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'3"</p></td><td><p>Kingston, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Crestwood Prep (OSBA)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Kim Gaucher</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Guard</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'1"</p></td><td><p>Mission, BC</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Mondeville (France)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Ruth Hamblin</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Centre</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'6"</p></td><td><p>Houston, BC</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Dynamo Novosibirsk (Russia)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Sami Hill</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Guard</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">5'10"</p></td><td><p>Toronto, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Donau-Ries (Germany)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Miah-Marie Langlois</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Guard</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">5'8"</p></td><td><p>Windsor, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Dynamo Novosibirsk (Russia)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Kia Nurse</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Guard</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'0"</p></td><td><p>Hamilton, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>New York Liberty (WNBA) / Canberra Capitals (Australia)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Shaina Pellington</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Guard</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">5'8"</p></td><td><p>Pickering, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Arizona (NCAA)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Forward</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">6'2"</p></td><td><p>Toronto, ON</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>New York Liberty (WNBA) / Nadezhda Orenburg (Russia)</p></td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Jamie Scott</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">Guard</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p align="center">5'10"</p></td><td><p>Clarkston, WA</p></td><td nowrap="nowrap"><p>Dynamo Novosibirsk (Russia)</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
SENIOR WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM FIBA WOMEN’S AMERICUP 2019 COACHES & STAFF
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="584"><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Name</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Position</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Hometown</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Affiliation</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lisa Thomaidis</p></td><td><p>Head Coach</p></td><td><p>Dundas, ON</p></td><td><p>University of Saskatchewan</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Steve Baur</p></td><td><p>Assistant Coach</p></td><td><p>Sackville, NS</p></td><td><p>Canada Basketball</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Carly Clarke</p></td><td><p>Assistant Coach</p></td><td><p>Halifax, NS</p></td><td><p>Ryerson University</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Max Hirst</p></td><td><p>Coordinator, Performance Analysis</p></td><td><p>Collingwood, ON</p></td><td><p>Canada Basketball</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lauren Buschmann</p></td><td><p>Sports Scientist & IST Manager</p></td><td><p>St. Catharines, ON</p></td><td><p>Canada Basketball/CSI-Ontario</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rhonda Shishkin</p></td><td><p>Physiotherapist</p></td><td><p>Saskatoon, SK</p></td><td><p>University of Saskatchewan</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Danielle Dobney</p></td><td><p>Athletic Therapist</p></td><td><p>Toronto, ON</p></td><td><p>York University</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bryce Tully </p></td><td><p>Mental Performance Consultant</p></td><td><p>Halifax, NS</p></td><td><p>CSC-Atlantic</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Marni Wesner</p></td><td><p>Lead Physician</p></td><td><p>Edmonton, AB</p></td><td><p>University of Alberta</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Kristin Anstey</p></td><td><p>Physician</p></td><td><p>Edmonton, AB</p></td><td><p>University of Alberta</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Anne Marie Thuss</p></td><td><p>Team Manager</p></td><td><p>Hamilton, ON</p></td><td><p>McMaster University</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Denise Dignard</p></td><td><p>Director, WHP</p></td><td><p>Port Cartier, QC</p></td><td><p>Canada Basketball</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mike MacKay</p></td><td><p>Performance Manager, WHP</p></td><td><p>Truro, NS</p></td><td><p>Canada Basketball</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Matt Walker</p></td><td><p>Communications Manager</p></td><td><p>Ancaster, ON</p></td><td><p>Canada Basketball</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
2019 SENIOR WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM FIBA WOMEN’S AMERICUP 2019 SCHEDULE
<table border="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>DATE</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>ITEM</strong></p></td><td><p align="center"><strong>TIME (ET)</strong></p></td><td><p> <strong>LOCATION</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 9-18</p></td><td><p>Training Camp</p></td><td><p align="center"> </p></td><td><p align="center">Saville Community Sports Centre</p><p align="center">Edmonton, AB</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 22</p></td><td><p>Canada vs. Mexico</p></td><td><p align="center">12:30 PM</p></td><td rowspan="6"><p align="center"><strong>FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2019</strong></p><p align="center">San Juan, Puerto Rico</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 23</p></td><td><p>Canada vs. Cuba</p></td><td><p align="center">5:30 PM</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 24</p></td><td><p>Canada vs. Puerto Rico</p></td><td><p align="center">8:00 PM</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 26</p></td><td><p>Canada vs. Dominican Republic</p></td><td><p align="center">5:30 PM</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 28</p></td><td><p>Semifinals</p></td><td><p align="center">TBD</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 29</p></td><td><p>Finals</p></td><td><p align="center">TBD</p></td></tr></tbody></table>