TORONTO – Canada Basketball announced the athletes that will represent Canada in the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women, which will be played in Amsterdam, Netherlands from August 17 to August 26. Players eligible for this competition must have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1995. The Canadian Cadette Women’s National Team will be looking to improve on their eleventh place showing in the 2010 U17 World Championship that took place in France.

The team qualified for the FIBA U17 World Championship by placing third in last year’s FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women. The youth women’s program is currently ranked fourth in the world in the FIBA rankings.

                                  2012 CADETTE WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER

“We are very excited about our group of twelve.  Over the past year, several individuals have shown tremendous improvement, and made our decisions very difficult,” said head coach, Carly Clarke. “Overall we have a great deal of size, length, athleticism and versatility, which should allow us to play in a variety of ways and with a variety of line ups.”

"We are pleased to have our U17 program competing in its second consecutive FIBA U17 World Championship for Women,” said Director of Women’s High Performance, Denise Dignard. “This is an opportunity for our staff to work on developing our top international prospects at an age-group world championship, as they strive to become world class and represent Canada at the World Championships and Olympic Games.”

Dignard added, “For our athletes it's an opportunity to learn with every game and see where they currently stand in relation to other athletes.”

The team will have a great deal of experience with seven players returning from last year’s Canadian Cadette Women’s National Team that won a bronze medal at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship. Returning players include; Audrey-Ann and Khaléann Caron-Goudreau, Saicha Grant-Allen, Hannah Jardine, Kia Nurse, Kolbie Orum and Emma Wolfram.

In this year’s FIBA U17 World Championship for Women, Canada has been placed in Group A which includes: Belgium, Italy, Korea, Mali and USA. Below outlines the tournament schedule for Canada.

FIBA U17 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN – CANADIAN SCHEDULE

The 2012 Canadian Cadette Women’s National Team will be led by head coach Carly Clark and will be assisted by Agnes Borg and Andre Desjardins. Jodi Gram will also join the team as an apprentice coach. To see the rest of the staff for the 2012 Canadian Cadette Women’s National Team, please see below.

                                              2012 CADETTE WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM - STAFF

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