The Senior Women's National Team is coming off a great start to the summer having won the Gold Medal at the Pan Am Games in Toronto. The next step for them is to qualify for the 2016 Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro by winning the FIBA Americas Tournament taking place in Edmonton. Leading up to the Americas Tournament we spoke to our SWNT members and they gave us their thoughts on a few things and here's what they had to say. To buy tickets for the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship for Women, click here.

On a roster full of players that have been or are focal points on their respective NCAA university teams Miah-Marie Langlois stands out.  It's not because the 5'8" point guard wasn't a star on her team but it's because her team isn't in the NCAA.  The Windsor native is the only member of the Senior Women's National Team that played her college ball in the CIS.

But don't let that fool you because Miah-Marie can play with anybody.

While at the University of Windsor, Langlois helped lead the Lancers to four straight CIS championships from 2010-14.  Along the way she claimed two second-team All CIS honors and is the only three-time CIS Defensive Player of the Year.  Her resume is what basketball dreams are made of.  It's funny to think that playing on with National Program wasn't even something that had entered her mind until she got an invite to a Development National Team camp in 2011.  That's when her eyes were truly opened to the possibility.

"I never thought that I would do this as a profession," said Langlois. "I didn't really have aspirations when I was younger to play basketball. When I was with the Development Women's National Team camp I saw what I wanted to do and I started to try to figure out how to get there."

It was that first camp invite that gave Miah-Marie a taste of what could be on the court for her and she was hooked.

"When I first got exposed to the National Program I enjoyed it a lot," says Langlois.  "I enjoyed the competition and I that I had to put in a lot more work.  (After the camp) I tried to talk to as many people I could to get into a gym.  I was trying to figure out any advantage (to make the team).  It may not have been efficient but it's what I did."

Whatever it was it worked.  The following summer Langlois was invited to participate in the Development National Team Camp and played in two exhibition tours.  The summer of 2013 she was selected to represent Canada at the Summer Universiade were she was the tournament's leading scorer (13.5 points per game) and second in steals (3 steals per game).  She would get the most important invite in 2014 when she was selected to be in the Senior Women's camp.  She stuck with the team the whole season and would play in the FIBA World Championship spelling vet Shona Thorburn while providing her trademark defense.  This summer she contributed to Pan Am Gold in Toronto.  Now she's one of the twelve ladies looking to secure a spot at the 2016 Olympics next month in Edmonton and the FIBA Americas Championship.

After all the success to this point in her young career it's still not lost on her that she in a very good place, though sometimes like she's in a dream.  

"After some of the (Pan Am) games players that played in the CIS would stop me to say that they played against me and that it's amazing to watch (me now).  I think that's when it hit me that I'm lucky to have this opportunity." Miah-Marie humbly says. "It's just crazy to think that I played against them (when I was in school) and now I'm playing at this level.  It still seems unreal."

Regardless of how it feels for Langlois what's real is the Gold Medal has earned in Toronto and a chance to show the world that the CIS can still produce talent for the National Program.

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Ray is a freelance sports journalist and blogger as well as a passionate Canadian basketball supporter.  His stories have found their way into SLAM Magazine, The Globe and Mail and Hoop Magazine to name a few.  Outside of his freelance work he is currently a senior contributor to NorthpoleHoops.com and SoleShift.  

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