Toronto, Ont. – Canada Basketball is pleased to announce the athletes who will represent Canada as the Senior Women’s National Team (SWNT) this summer at the FIBA Americas Championship for Women in Mexico. Team Canada heads in to this competition after a successful summer of preparation, most recently winning the Super Four International Tournament in Sao Carlos, Brazil going 3-0 beating Argentina, Puerto Rico and Brazil.

Head Coach Lisa Thomaidis made the following comments on the selection and the upcoming tournament: “After an amazing summer of training and competition, we’ve selected the 12 athletes that will represent Canada at the FIBA Americas Championship in Mexico. Both our mix of experience and youth will be called upon to contribute in Xalapa. The FIBA Americas tournament is highly competitive and we are mindful of the varying styles in opponents that we will face. We are encouraged with the signs of improvement we’ve seen in both our team and individual performance indicators over the course of the summer, and feel very prepared for the upcoming tournament. We are excited to get going!”

The competition, taking place in Xalapa, Mexico, will feature the best teams in the Americas, where they face Jamaica, Chile, Venezuela and Cuba in the preliminary round of the tournament. Canada has won bronze in the last four years of the FIBA Americas Championship tournament.

The team looks for success in the Americas tournament where they need to finish in the top three rank in order to qualify for the 2014 FIBA World Championship.


2013 Senior Women’s National Team

No. Name Position Height Hometown
4 Krista Phillips Centre 6-5 Saskatoon, Sask.
5 Kia Nurse Guard 6-0 Hamilton, Ont.
6 Shona Thorburn Guard 5-10 Hamilton, Ont.
7 Courtnay Pilypaitis Guard 6-1 Orleans, Ont.
8 Kim Gaucher Guard 6-1 Mission, B.C.
9 Miranda Ayim Forward 6-2.5 London, Ont.
10 Justine Colley Guard 5-9 East Preston, N.S.
11 Natalie Achonwa Forward 6-2.5 Guelph, Ont.
12 Lizanne Murphy Guard 6-1 Beaconsfield, Que.
13 Tamara Tatham Forward 6-1 Brampton, Ont.
14 Kendel Ross Guard 6-0 Sarnia, Ont.
15 Kalisha Keane Forward 6-0 Ajax, Ont.


2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Women – Preliminary Round Schedule

Date Opponent Time (ET)
Sunday, September 22 Jamaica 3:00 p.m.
Monday, September 23 Chile 5:15 p.m.
Tuesday, September 24 Venezuela 5:15 p.m.
Wednesday, September 25 Cuba 5:15 p.m.

For the full schedule, please visit the tournament’s official site: http://www.xalapa2013.com/en/