HOMECOMING
Canadian star Kia Nurse, left, brings the Connecticut Huskies to the Mattamy Centre for her senior’s day,
There is little chance for Canadian devotees of American women’s college basketball to see games on television, and only the most diehard find ways around the dearth of media coverage in the country to check in on their favourite players and teams.
It’s a shame. The quality of play is high level and there are enough Canadians in high-profile programs to warrant interest.
But for one of the few times ever, local fans can see the best of the best in person. The University of Connecticut Huskies — and Canadian star Kia Nurse of Hamilton — will play a regular-season game at the Mattamy Centre on Friday. The game against Duquesne is a one-off deal to celebrate Nurse’s senior year with the iconic Huskies, and she hopes it can in some small way increase the game’s profile.
“You see women’s basketball more out here, people can see it and watch it,” Nurse said in a telephone interview from Connecticut this week. “Whereas in Hamilton or back home, you go see the McMaster Marauders play live if that’s what you want to do but that’s it. It definitely has a chance to allow people to see it . . . live and then enhance it.”
“You want people that want to play basketball. We’re a hockey country but there’s no reason basketball can’t be up there, too.” KIA NURSE CONNECTICUT POINT GUARD
Small steps are important, and if one game leads to another and maybe another and gives young Canadians something to aspire to, it’s worth it.
“It’s a great thing for Kia, for her to get to play in Canada in front of family and friends, and it’s a great thing for young players who get a chance to go out and see one of the best programs in the world,” said Lisa Thomaidis, the head coach of Canada’s senior women’s team as well as the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. “The players on that team are going to be future Olympians and WNBA players. It’s just a great opportunity to see some of the best players in the world at their age group and see how they compete and the level of athleticism and skill level that they have.”
The chance to play near home as a collegian was beyond comprehension for Nurse as late as last summer. The chance to play again at Mattamy, where she had a star turn with Canada’s Pan Am Games gold-medal team in 2015, is the perfect way to wrap up her college career.
“Obviously I’m beyond excited,” she said. “I know that in my career, from this point on, there won’t be a lot of times that I get to play on home soil so I’m very thankful the Con- necticut coaches went out of their way to schedule this game and give us a chance to go up there.
“No one told me, I just saw it on Twitter. I was pretty shocked about that. I figured if I got a home game, it would be somewhere in Michigan because that’s close. I was overly excited when they said Toronto.”
If the trickle-down effect of the game is to increase awareness of women’s basketball, Thomaidis and Nurse see it as a step in the right direction.
“As a U Sports coach, I love to see more young people come out and watch those games as well, and the high level of play,” Thomaidis said. “But, again, we’ll take what we can get at this point and there’s nothing wrong with aspiring to play at UConn and to see them.”
Nurse’s team is ranked No. 1 in the United States and has an unbeaten record after an 88-64 win at home on Tuesday against Oklahoma, which features Pickering’s Shaina Pellington, another of the several Canadi- ans in elite NCAA programs.
“I’ve seen that, over the last two or three years especially, there’s so much great talent coming out of Canada that you hear about them coming to the States and playing, or you hear about them on the national teams, or you hear about them in their professional leagues and that’s exciting,” Nurse said. “You want people that want to play basketball. We’re a hockey country but there’s no reason basketball can’t be up there, too.”