Canada Basketball has announced the final 12-Woman roster for the upcoming FIBA World Cup in Sydney Australia, which begins on Wednesday, September 21st.
“After weeks of training camp and exhibition games, our team is more than ready to compete at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup,” said head coach Víctor Lapeña. “With a roster that features a range of experience, from Olympic veterans to several players set to make their Senior national team debut, our goal is to not only be competitive, but to play an aggressive style of basketball and proudly represent Canada every time we step on the court.”
Of the 15 players attending training camp in Edmonton from August 24-September 8 — where they were before traveling to Australia for a pair of tune-up games — only 17-year-old Cassandra Prosper, Quinn Dornstauder, and Aaliyah Edwards were left off of the final roster. The final cut is of note, as Edwards is one of Canada’s best up-and-coming talents and was the MVP of GLOBL JAM. It’s likely that she had commitments with her program at the University of Connecticut that disabled her from attending the World Cup. A big loss for Team Canada.
However, the bright side comes in the form of veteran guard Kia Nurse, who has been rehabbing from a torn ACL and missed the entire 2022 WNBA season. It appears that she is healthy enough to play, but expectations should be tempered given that it will be Nurse’s first time playing competitive basketball games in almost a year.
The other two WNBA players will also be on the team, as team Captain Nathalie Achonwa and Minnesota Lynx teammate Bridget Carleton will lead the team from a veteran standpoint, whereas Laeticia Amihere, Taya Hanson, and Phillipina Kyei will add an injection of youth to the team. Twenty-one year old Amihere is a key to bridging the gab between the youth and the veterans, as she will assume a bigger role on the team she has been on since age 17 with the departures of Miranda Ayim, Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, and Kim Gaucher, who were all on the Tokyo 2021 roster.
“Our Senior Women’s National team is entering a generational change and a period of transition which will see our players assume different roles within the team, both on and off the court,” said Denise Dignard, General Manager / Executive Vice-President, Women’s High Performance. “The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup is an important step, but just one of many in our journey towards peak performance and a place on the podium at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”
Canada was drawn into Group B for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 and will face Serbia (Sept. 21 11:00 p.m. ET), France (Sept. 23 4:00 a.m. ET), Japan (Sept. 25 6:30 a.m. ET), hosts Australia (Sept. 26 6:30 a.m. ET), and Mali (Sept. 27 2:00 a.m. ET) in the Group Phase, live on Sportsnet.
The top four teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals with the winners moving on to the semifinals and medal round.
Canada’s Senior Women’s National Team enters the tournament ranked fourth in the FIBA World Ranking Women, an all-time high for the program. This will be Canada’s 12th appearance, and fifth consecutive, at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, with their highest finish being a pair of third place finishes in Seoul (1979) and Vilnius, Minsk, Moscow (1986).
