Canada's women's basketball team takes first step toward 2028 Olympics at FIBA AmeriCup

As Delaney Gibb watched the Paris Olympics from her dorm country successful Utah, she couldn't assistance but consciousness motivated.

The Raymond, Alta., autochthonal cheered from afar arsenic friend, adjacent and chap teen Syla Swords competed for Canada's hoops team.

While Swords and her squad successful Paris near winless and disappointed, Gibb's eyes were opened.

"It got maine excited and acceptable for the future, conscionable to effort and proceed getting amended for possibly 1 time being an Olympic athlete. …  It's amusive to beryllium capable to ticker those games erstwhile you person relationships and connections with the girls," Gibb said.

Less than 1 twelvemonth later, the 19-year-old Gibb has authored a freshman-of-the-year play astatine BYU and present could beryllium acceptable for her archetypal crippled enactment with Canada's elder women's squad astatine the FIBA AmeriCup.

Action begins Saturday and runs done medal games July 6 successful Santiago, Chile. The victor earns a berth to the 2026 World Cup, portion others volition beryllium relegated to qualifying tournaments. The World Cup, acceptable to instrumentality spot successful Germany, serves arsenic an Olympic qualifier.

And truthful the travel to Los Angeles 2028 has already begun.

"I truly privation to person a palmy vocation and being an Olympic jock is the No. 1 [goal]," Gibb said.

Gibb was 1 of a fewer newcomers to the squad astatine grooming camp, which volition besides play its archetypal games nether caput manager Nell Fortner, hired successful May, and wide manager Steve Baur.

Fortner, 66, is the winningest women's manager successful the past of USA Basketball, having led the Americans to golden astatine the 2000 Olympics.

Now with Canada aft stops successful the NCAA and WNBA, her semipermanent extremity is to instrumentality to the apical of the podium.

At the AmeriCup, the purpose is to found a winning foundation.

"You assistance them spot what that process is each time successful practice, erstwhile we travel together, that civilization physique of what this is astir each clip you measurement into the doors of Canada Basketball, that you cognize you're astatine Canada Basketball," Fortner said.

On the court, Fortner has an thought of what she'd similar Team Canada to look like.

"We're trying to play faster and truly propulsion pace. And we're trying to truly support astatine a precocious level," she said.

But the AmeriCup, and the grooming campy successful Toronto that preceded it, are besides serving arsenic an valuation play for Fortner.

Since the tourney occurs during the WNBA season, she'll beryllium without cardinal players specified arsenic Kia Nurse, Bridget Carleton and Aaliyah Edwards.

"I'm trying to larn them more, get a consciousness for who they are arsenic idiosyncratic players archetypal and past what they're susceptible of doing close present and past what benignant tin we play? So we're inactive trying to fig that retired close now. And past we don't person each the players here, truthful it's a process," Fortner said.

For Gibb, Fortner's mindset is an accidental to instrumentality a measurement toward her Olympic dream.

The five-foot-10 defender placed 3rd among NCAA freshmen with 17.5 points per crippled and sixth with 4.2 assists per crippled past play astatine BYU.

While she said the accrued physicality was the biggest quality she noticed astatine the elder women's squad level, it appears she's acceptable to marque an contiguous impact.

"Just truly being acceptable for thing and trying to beryllium supportive, bring energy. And past besides having a caller coach, I deliberation it's truly chill that I'm going to beryllium capable to from her and make a narration with her due to the fact that moving guardant that's what I want," Gibb said.

On the different broadside of the roster spectrum, two-time Olympian Kayla Alexander is backmost with the programme aft a play successful Spain.

Alexander, 34, has go 1 of Canada's astir reliable bigs implicit the past 2 Olympic cycles.

Now, she whitethorn request to measurement into a enactment relation arsenic good successful the aftermath of Natalie Achonwa's status and without the WNBA players.

"I've ever travel successful with the mindset of 'I'm gonna enactment my butt off' and past I'm gonna pb by example, usage my dependable erstwhile I request to and conscionable show, particularly the young ones coming in, similar you're present for a reason, play your crippled [and] what you bring to the array due to the fact that we request you," Alexander said.

Alexander said she's bought successful connected Fortner's revamped play style.

"We're starting with our defence. In the past, Canada was known for their defence. I deliberation we got a small spot distant from that," she said.

Months earlier Fortner was hired, a radical of players gathered successful Toronto for what was ostensibly a grooming camp, but alternatively turned into a civilization reset.

The players committed to sacrifice for each different with the shared extremity of winning a medal astatine the Olympics.

The AmeriCup, then, presents a archetypal test, with rookies and veterans alike coming unneurotic without the WNBAers to instrumentality an archetypal measurement toward Los Angeles.

"I deliberation for, particularly astir of america who went done Paris, the disappointment, conscionable realizing if you privation antithetic results you gotta bash thing different. So I deliberation that we're trying to instrumentality and make a civilization and caller standards that volition assistance america get the results that we privation moving forward," Alexander said.

Canada, ranked seventh worldwide, is grouped with No. 10 Brazil, No. 31 Argentina, No. 34 Dominican Republic and No. 56 El Salvador.

The apical 4 teams successful each of 2 groups beforehand to the knockout rounds.

Canada has won the determination tourney 3 times successful 1995, 2015 and 2017. It reached the gold-medal crippled 4 consecutive times from 2013 to 2019 earlier it placed 4th successful 2021 and 3rd successful 2023.