Canada sets roster for worlds
Thomaidis has one eye on present and one on future with collegians
Lisa Thomaidis and her staff with Canada’s national basketball team have settled on a roster that provides not only for a run to medal contention at this year’s world championship but one that includes a nod to the long-term picture as well.
A pair of collegians — Brampton’s Shay Colley, a redshirt junior at Michigan State, and Chatham, Ont.’s Bridget Carleton, a senior at Iowa State — were named Tuesday to the 12woman roster for the Sept. 2230 worlds in Tenerife, Spain.
Thomaidis had said Monday that carving a 15-women training camp roster to 12 for the worlds was a near impossibility, but she and the staff have settled on a group of mainly seasoned veterans with extensive international experience.
Eight holdovers return from the team that placed seventh at the 2016 Rio Olympics: Natalie Achonwa of Guelph, Miranda Ayim of London, Nirra Fields of Lachine, Que., Kim Gaucher of Mission, B.C., Windsor’s MiahMarie Langlois, Hamilton’s Kia Nurse, Michelle Plouffe of Edmonton and Toronto’s Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe.
Two frontcourt players, Kayla Alexander of Milton and Ruth Hamblin of Houston, B.C., will be making their senior global debuts at the worlds.
“It’s going to be tough, there’s … no way around it,” Thomaidis said of the final roster moves. “And people have performed well, they’ve done a great job in terms of making it tough on us. That’s all you can ask for, we’re seeing good performances by many of them.”
Canada begins its final run-up to the worlds with a pair of significant exhibition games this week.
They will face world No. 13 Japan on Friday night and the juggernaut No. 1-ranked United States on Saturday.
“I want to see how we can handle the speed of both teams,” Thomaidis said.
The game against Japan could prove to be vital for Canada. Japan is in a group of countries that could be opponents in a world championship quarterfinal for Canada, a step the women need to take after bowing out at the same stage in each of the last two Olympics and the 2014 world championship.
“Japan plays a very dynamic style and really spreads you out and has five shooters on the floor at all times,” Thomaidis said. “How can we defend that, and how can we still stay matched up with them, and how can we exploit maybe some size and quickness at the other end?
“They’ve very dangerous because of how they shoot the three, they can shoot it deep, they’ll shoot it five seconds into the shot clock or later in the shot clock. Just the speed with which they cut is something you have to be prepared for.”
The Americans are the Amer- icans. They’ve won the last two world championship titles and go into Spain as the overwhelming favourites.
“With the U.S., you just know you’re going to get: transition, transition, transition. And a number of very talented oneon-one players,” Thomaidis said.
“Again, can we keep them in front of us, can we match their transition, can we exploit some things against them, how (is) our system working, what are we going to keep, what are we going to throw out?
“It’s a good early test against two great teams. It’ll really give us a good indicator of where we’re at.”