Canadian freshmen hope to make their mark in women's March Madness and beyond

Tara De Boer · CBC Sports

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

With athletes similar Caitlin Clarke, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers battling it retired successful past year's women's NCAA March Madness tournament, 24 cardinal viewers tuned successful for the title game.

It was an all-time precocious which surpassed the men's title assemblage for the archetypal clip successful history. 

That aforesaid season, the fig of Canadian women competing successful the tourney outnumbered the Canadian men 22 to 21.

But this year, a standout radical of Canadian freshmen person not lone made their mode onto Division I rosters, but person made their names known across the league — further establishing the spot and committedness of Canadian hoops programs.

On Friday the Hunger Games of assemblage hoops volition statesman arsenic 64 teams vie successful the do-or-die 2025 NCAA women's hoops tournament.

WATCH | Canadians acceptable for March Madness:

Swords makes interaction with Michigan

Syla Swords, a freshman for the Michigan Wolverines, is present a starting constituent defender for the team, but increasing up she imagined she'd vie for Laurentian University successful Sudbury, Ont., wherever some her parents played varsity basketball.

"My dada is the manager [at Laurentian], that's the gym I grew up in, and successful my mind, that was the goal," Swords told CBC Sports. "Once I started getting recruited, watching the NCAA a small more, it started to get exciting." 

At property 18, Swords made past arsenic the youngest Canadian Olympian to play for the elder women's hoops squad astatine the Paris 2024 Games.

"I inactive retrieve walking to the gym for the archetypal clip with the elder team, seeing Natalie Achonwa, Kia Nurse, successful the aforesaid gym, and thinking, 'Oh, I'm gonna person to defender them now,'" she said. 

"And past walking into the Olympic Village, seeing these seven-foot hoops players, seeing Giannis [Antetokounmpo], seeing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, these large NBA household names, and thinking, 'yeah, I'm a portion of this.'"

After playing with the top hoopers successful the world, Swords not lone feels prepared for the high-stakes games of March Madness, she's aiming to upset the bracket. Michigan is the No. 6 effect successful the Regional 3 bracket of the tournament.  

"I'm excited to beryllium a Cinderella story. I don't deliberation capable radical cognize astir what the University of Michigan women's hoops tin do," she said. "We're specified a peculiar radical of players." 

Fournier's dunk goes viral 

Also preparing for her March Madness debut is Toronto-born Toby Fournier, a 6-foot-3 guardant for Duke who went viral for her quality to dunk already astatine property 14. 

WATCH | Fournier connected showcasing her dunking:

The Duke Blue Devils secured their bid to the tourney aft winning the ACC Championship against Louisville, wherever Fournier was named the conference's Rookie of The Year.

"There's a batch of Canadian stories close present … It's conscionable a truly breathtaking clip for women's Canadian basketball," Swords said. 

For Delaney Gibb, a first-year connected the BYU Cougars, representing Canada successful the NCAA is an honour. 

"I consciousness similar I'm playing for thing bigger than basketball, I'm playing for Canada," the five-foot-10 freshman told CBC Sports. 

Rise successful attention

Gibb besides competed astatine the 2023 FIBA Women's AmeriCup and played for the bronze-medal winning U19 Canadian Team. 

With the emergence successful attraction to women's sports and the endowment connected the tribunal successful caller years, she is not lone inspired by the alteration she's seeing, but arrogant to beryllium a portion of it. 

"I consciousness similar there's truthful overmuch enactment close present successful women's hoops successful general, but particularly with the Canadian athletes," she said. "It's truthful amusive that I person the acquisition to besides adhd to the eruption of women's sports and women's basketball."

The BYU women's squad did not yet suffice for the March Madness tourney aft losing retired successful the Big 12 tournament. 

Viewership and investment

Meanwhile, Canadian freshman Jasmine Bascoe was named archetypal squad All-Big East for her contributions to Villanova. 

Despite falling abbreviated of qualifying for the tourney this year, being a portion of the sisterhood of Canadian freshmen has been a surreal acquisition for the Milton, Ont., native.

"It's thing that I had ne'er truly felt anterior to being successful the NCAA. Talking to Syla, Toby, Delaney, we're each going done the aforesaid happening close now, but being capable to speech and chat with each different and bring america backmost to world a bit, it's a batch of fun," Bascoe told CBC Sports.

As viewership and concern into NCAA women's sports undoubtedly continues to grow, Bascoe is grateful for the women who came earlier her.

"It's truly chill to spot Angel and Caitlin successful the WNBA now, but what they near down successful the NCAA opened the doors for america now," Bascoe said. "We vie conscionable arsenic hard arsenic anyone else. Obviously it's antithetic from men's games, but we person our ain small interaction to it and I deliberation that's what makes it fun." 

Bascoe's older member Josh besides competes successful the NCAA, conscionable precocious wrapping up his elder play for the men's hoops squad astatine Bucknell University. 

"It's truthful awesome representing the state successful the U.S.. A batch of radical didn't expect that Canadians would beryllium capable to support up with them, truthful conscionable showing them that we tin shot retired too," Bascoe said. 

On the men's side, a grounds fig of 171 Canadian men competed successful NCAA hoops successful the 2024-2025 season, besides illustrating the expanding output of hoops endowment successful Canada crossed the board. 

"Canada is nary longer conscionable a hockey country. The remainder of the satellite is catching up to American basketball, and Canada's been astatine the forefront of that," Swords said.