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Canada Basketball’s women’s high performance program has announced the roster for the 2016 U17 women’s national team which includes Manitoban Niyah Becker who will represent Canada at the 2016 U17 FIBA World Championships.
Niyah has been to a number of National Team Identification Camps over the past year and was selected as an alternate on this same team in 2015. She was invited to the Basketball Without Borders Camp as part of the NBA All-Star festivities in Toronto back in February and recently wrapped up the high school season as a AAAA provincial finalist with Vincent Massey Collegiate. The grade 10 student is a member of the Manitoba Provincial Team and the Centre for Performance program.
"After a very competitive assessment process we have selected the 12 athletes who will represent Canada and looking to build on past success,” said Denise Dignard, director, women’s high performance. “Athletes have worked hard throughout the year and we look forward to seeing them continue their growth and compete against the best in the world at their age-group."
The team will finish training camp on June 14th at the University of Toronto – Mississauga and will then head to Spain for a three-game exhibition tournament. The team will tip-off against Nigeria on June 22nd at the U17 FIBA World Championships in Zaragoza from June 22nd-July 3rd.
NIYAH BECKER
| Position: | Forward |
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| Years w/Team Canada: | 0 |
| GP w/Team Canada: | 0 |
Jodi Gram (Bill Crothers S.S.) takes the helm in her first year as head coach of the squad after working with the team for 5 years as an assistant and apprentice coach. She will be joined by assistants Dani Sinclair (University of Victoria), Albena Branzova-Dimitrova (UQAM) and performance analyst Michele Hynes (University of Manitoba).
In 2015, the U16 national team won the U16 FIBA Americas Championship, capturing Canada’s first gold medal at a FIBA Americas tournament. Canada is currently ranked 4th worldwide in the FIBA youth girls rankings.
A full list of invited athletes and coaches can be found below.
2016 U17 NATIONAL TEAM INVITEES
| NAME | POSITION | HEIGHT | HOMETOWN |
| Laeticia Amihere | Forward | 6’1” | Mississauga, ON |
| Niyah Becker | Forward | 6'1" | Winnipeg, MB |
| Hailey Brown | Forward | 6’1” | Hamilton, ON |
| Sarah Donovan | Forward | 5’9” | London, ON |
| Louise Forsyth | Guard | 6’0” | Langley, BC |
| Hanna Hall | Guard | 5’2” | Hamilton, ON |
| Taya Hanson | Guard | 5’7” | Kelowna, BC |
| Alyssa Jerome | Forward | 6’1” | Toronto, ON |
| Roxane Makolo | Guard | 5’7” | St-Hubert, QC |
| Shaina Pellington | Guard | 5’6” | Pickering, ON |
| Aiden Rainford | Forward | 5’10” | Toronto, ON |
| Kyla Shand | Center | 6’2” | Saskatoon, SK |
2016 COACHING & STAFF
| NAME | HOMETOWN | AFFILIATION | ROLE |
| Jodi Gram | Markham, ON | Bill Crothers S.S. | Head Coach |
| Dani Sinclair | Victoria, BC | University of Victoria | Assistant Coach |
| Albena Branzova-Dimitrova | Montreal, QC | UQAM | Assistant Coach |
| Michele Hynes | Winnipeg, MB | University of Manitoba | Performance Analyst/Apprentice Coach |
| Michelle Bell | Brampton, ON | Ryerson University | Athletic Therapist |
| Megan Pinske | Coquitlam, ON | University of Saskatchewan | Team Manager/Apprentice Coach |
| Marcus Jansen | Toronto, ON | N/A | Physician |
| Agnes Borg | Toronto, ON | Canada Basketball & Ontario Basketball | Head of Delegation |
2016 SCHEDULE
| DATE | ITEM | LOCATION |
| June 9th -14th, 2016 | Training Camp | UofT – Mississauga |
| June 16th-19th | Exhibition Tournament | Spain |
| June 22nd, 2016 | Vs. Nigeria | U17 World Championships Zaragoza, Spain |
| June 23rd, 2016 | Vs. Latvia | |
| June 25th, 2016 | Vs. Japan | |
| June 28th, 2016 | Round of 16 | |
| June 30th, 2016 | Quarter Finals | |
| July 1st, 2016 | Semi-Finals | |
| July 2nd, 2016 | Classification Games | |
| July 3rd, 2016 | Finals |