TORONTO, ON (March 15, 2018) – When the 2018 Division 1 Women’s Basketball Championship tips-off Friday afternoon, 17 Canadians will find themselves vying for college basketball's top prize.
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| Emily Potter |
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| Raizel Quinto |
Thursday, March 15:
Missouri State at Louisiana Tech, 7:30 p.m.
UNLV at Utah, 9 p.m.
MORE ON THE WOMEN'S NIT
At 32-0, Kia Nurse and the UConn Huskies enter the tournament as the first overall seed as they chase their fifth national championship in six years. On Monday, the Hamilton, Ont. native earned Academic All-American honours for the second straight season and last month became the first Canadian to be nominated for the Nancy Lieberman award, which is given to the top point guard of women’s college basketball.
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| Jordan Tully |
While Nurse’s collegiate career will come to a close this year, several standout Canadians are just getting started, including Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Shaina Pellington. After helping Canada secure a historic bronze medal at the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2017 last summer, Pellington became the Sooners’ seventh Big 12 Freshman of the Year winner after averaging 13.1 points per game.
NC State rookie Aislinn Konig also made a name for herself this season, appearing in all 32 games for the Wolfpack and finished third on the team in scoring, averaging 10.3 points per game. No. 4 seed NC State opens the tournament on Friday at 2:30 PM ET versus No. 13 Elon.
Starting 27 games for the Wolverines this season, Michigan rookie Hailey Brown was another Canadian who turned some heads after averaging 9.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
Below is the list of Canadians playing this year:
Hanna Hall - Buffalo
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Hanna Hall
|
24
|
8.0
|
.317
|
.737
|
.294
|
0.3
|
0.7
|
1.2
|
0.2
|
0.0
|
1.9
|
Ayoleka Sodade - Buffalo
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Ayoleka Sodade
|
19
|
4.9
|
.357
|
.667
|
-
|
0.3
|
1.0
|
0.4
|
0.3
|
0.0
|
0.8
|
Kia Nurse - Connecticut
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Kia Nurse
|
32
|
32.5
|
.524
|
.813
|
.455
|
0.7
|
3.3
|
2.8
|
1.4
|
0.4
|
13.8
|
Louise Forsyth - Gonzaga
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Louise Forsyth
|
13
|
3.0
|
.273
|
1.000
|
.250
|
0.0
|
0.1
|
0.1
|
0.1
|
0.0
|
0.8
|
Emma Wolfram - Gonzaga
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Emma Wolfram
|
1
|
0.0
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
Yasmine Bidikuindila - LSU
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Yasmine Bidikuindila
|
16
|
6.3
|
.700
|
.333
|
-
|
0.5
|
1.4
|
0.1
|
0.4
|
0.3
|
0.9
|
Julie Brosseau - Maine
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Julie Brosseau
|
31
|
27.3
|
.375
|
.778
|
.354
|
0.5
|
3.2
|
2.2
|
0.7
|
0.1
|
11.4
|
Shantelle Valentine - Marquette
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Shantelle Valentine
|
20
|
6.9
|
.421
|
.500
|
-
|
0.6
|
1.5
|
0.2
|
0.2
|
0.1
|
0.9
|
Hailey Brown - Michigan
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Hailey Brown
|
27
|
25.0
|
.460
|
.653
|
.459
|
1.6
|
5.2
|
1.3
|
0.6
|
0.7
|
9.0
|
Aislinn Konig - NC State
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Aislinn Konig
|
32
|
33.8
|
.358
|
.550
|
.345
|
0.1
|
2.4
|
3.1
|
0.9
|
0.3
|
10.3
|
Shaina Pellington - Oklahoma
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Shaina Pellington
|
30
|
27.1
|
.491
|
.588
|
.000
|
0.9
|
2.7
|
2.2
|
0.9
|
0.1
|
13.1
|
Sarah Shewan - Quinnipiac
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Sarah Shewan
|
6
|
21.5
|
.367
|
.926
|
.355
|
2.0
|
6.2
|
1.5
|
0.8
|
1.2
|
13.3
|
Alyssa Jerome - Stanford
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Alyssa Jerome
|
31
|
10.4
|
.382
|
.667
|
.267
|
0.4
|
1.2
|
0.4
|
0.0
|
0.1
|
2.1
|
Mikaela Brewer - Stanford
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Mikaela Brewer
|
14
|
1.9
|
.154
|
-
|
.111
|
0.0
|
0.1
|
0.1
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.4
|
Chelayne Bailey - Syracuse
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Chelayne Bailey
|
25
|
5.7
|
.261
|
.600
|
.375
|
0.1
|
0.4
|
0.8
|
0.2
|
0.0
|
0.7
|
Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau - Texas
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau
|
23
|
21.1
|
.478
|
.667
|
.292
|
1.8
|
5.0
|
0.7
|
1.0
|
1.6
|
6.0
|
Khaleann Caron-Goudreau - Texas
Player
|
G
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
3P%
|
ORPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
SPG
|
BPG
|
PPG
|
Khaleann Caron-Goudreau
|
16
|
6.8
|
.111
|
.750
|
.100
|
0.4
|
1.4
|
0.4
|
0.1
|
0.3
|
0.5
|
While a member of a tournament bound team, Canadians Julia Chandler (Dayton) will not play this year due to NCAA rules after transferring.