Women's
hoops team has summer to mesh
Rebuilt Canadian squad will face opponents who have
been playing together for a year
MICHAEL GRANGE
Sports Reporter
Toronto -- As rebuilding programs go, it was a quick one.
In 1996, the Canadian women's basketball team endured a
horrible time at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, finishing 11th out of 12 teams and managing
only one win.
When head coach Bev Smith was brought in to coach the team
in 1997, she decided to go with a younger look, hoping to identify a nucleus of younger
talent that would mesh well with veteran holdovers from the 1996 team and get back to the
Olympics in 2000.
After struggling to win games in 1997 and 1998, the
strategy paid dividends last summer. The team earned a spot in the Olympics with a
third-place finish at a qualifying tournament in Cuba and followed up with a silver medal
at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
Not surprisingly, when Smith announced the 15-player
Olympic roster yesterday, there were 14 holdovers from last summer.
"We've been able to add some youth that has now played
international basketball for a couple of summers and have no doubt that they deserve to be
here -- and marry them together with some older players, and I think we have a pretty good
group," said Smith, herself a veteran of the 1996 team and at one time one of the top
women players in the world.
The team will be led by 1996 Games veterans Kelly Boucher
and Karla Karch of Calgary; Shawna Molchak of Cardston, Alta.; and Dianne Norman of
Fredericton.
The bulk of the roster will be made up of players in their
first Olympic Games, including Claudia Brassard-Riebesehl of St. Hilarion, Que., Stacy
Dales of Brockville, Ont., Michelle Hendry of Terrace, B.C., Nikki Johnson of Niagara
Falls, Ont., Teresa Kleindienst of Mission, B.C., Joy McNichol of Waterloo, Ont., and
Tammy Sutton-Brown of Markham, Ont.
The alternates are Calgary guard Cori Blakebrough, the only
player not with the team last summer; Elizabeth Hart of Brantford, Ont. and Joby McKenzie
of Pitt Meadows, B.C.
The majority of the 12 teams at the Games will have trained
as a unit for nearly a year in advance of the event, but Smith will have to mould her team
in short bursts over the course of the summer.
Training starts with a quick camp in Richmond, B.C., that
lasts until the team departs for Sydney on June 7 to compete in a five-team exhibition
tournament there.
"It's going to be fundamental to our learning what is
involved in going to a tournament the magnitude of the Olympics," Smith said.
"Dealing with the travel and acclimatizing to the time change and getting to know
Sydney, which is going to be our home for the most of a month."
"We're calling it the 'see the sights now baby'
tour," she added. "Because when we come back in September all our focus is going
to be on the gym."
Athletes selected to the Team:
| Name |
Ht |
Pos. |
School/Club |
Hometown |
| BOUCHARD, Cal |
5’8" |
G |
Boston College |
Aurora, ON |
| BOUCHER, Kelly |
6’2" |
F |
UVIC/Pamplona, Spain |
Calgary, AB |
| BRASSARD-RIEBESEHL, Claudia |
6’2" |
F |
SMU/Limoges Avenir, France |
St. Hilarion, QC |
| DALES, Stacey |
6’1" |
G |
Oklahoma University |
Brockville, ON |
| HENDRY, Michelle |
6’2" |
F |
Simon Fraser/DJK Yellocats,
Germany |
Terrace, BC |
| JOHNSON, Nikki |
5’11" |
F |
Simon Fraser/Marburg, Germany |
Niagara Falls, ON |
| KARCH, Karla |
5’8" |
G |
University of Victoria |
Calgary, AB |
| KLEINDIENST, Teresa |
5’5" |
G |
Simon Fraser |
Mission, BC |
| McNICHOL, Joy |
6’3" |
C |
Laurentian/Casares Godella, Spain |
Waterloo, ON |
| MOLCAK, Shawna |
5’9" |
G |
Lethbridge/DJK Yellocats, Germany |
Cardston, AB |
| NORMAN, Dianne |
6’1" |
F |
Laurentian/Pamplona, Spain |
Fredericton, NB |
| SUTTON-BROWN, Tammy |
6’4" |
C |
Rutgers University |
Markham, ON |
Repinted with permission.
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