TORONTO - Canada Basketball has announced the official roster for the 2010 edition of the Cadette Women’s National Team (CWNT) that will participate at the inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship for Women from July 16-25 in Toulouse/Rodez, France.

UBC head coach Deb Huband, who has been at the helm of the T-Bird program for 15 seasons, continues her involved with Canada Basketball by serving as the mentor coach for this squad.

The 12 athletes selected to the CWNT begin their competition season in Alagon, Spain with an exhibition tournament against the United States, Spain and Australia. The team will then travel to France to compete at the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women.

Of the 2010 squad, eight players are returning from the 2009 CWNT that won the silver medal at the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, including leading scorer Nirra Fields (Lachine, QC.) and leading rebounder Shalie Dheenshaw (Victoria, B.C.).

“It is exciting for our women’s program to be sending this young group of Canadian players to the inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship for Women”, said Denise Dignard, Manager of Women’s Elite Performance for Canada Basketball. “The athletes will have a chance to play exhibition games in Spain in advance of the worlds  in order to be better prepared.”

The FIBA U17 World Championship for Women features the best players aged 17 years and younger from 12 counties around the world. Team Canada is assigned to Pool A and will open the preliminary round on July 16 against Turkey. Other Pool A countries include France, Japan, Russia and USA.

“The depth and competitiveness of the teams will be strong in each pool and it will be a challenging preliminary round,” added Dignard. “This invaluable international experience will give each athlete a chance to compete at the top level so she gets a better understanding of the training and competition required to play at the world class level.”

The top four teams from the preliminary rounds in Groups A and B will advance to the quarter-finals and play for the top eight spots in the standings. Teams placing fifth and sixth in each preliminary round group will play for the bottom four spots in the standings. Games in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals are scheduled to be held on July 23, 24 and 25 in Toulouse/Rodez, France.

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