March is International Women’s Month, and brands won’t let you forget it. Commercials, activations, celebratory nights and so on. Instead of a performative campaign to remind you to celebrate women, let’s talk about the phenomenon no one seems to be talking about. Canadian women are taking over the basketball world.
This is an unprecedented time for women’s basketball players in general, but Canadians have absolutely shot into the top tier of basketball. On every level, they are not only represented, but showing out. Let us introduce you to the past, present and future of Canadian basketball — women.
WNBA
Obviously first is the WNBA, and the Toronto Tempo arriving in Canada is only the latest chapter in a mosaic of rich history between Canadian women and the sport.
The WNBA currently has four Canadian players: Kia Nurse (Chicago Sky), Bridget Carleton (Minnesota Lynx), Laeticia Amihere (Golden State Valkyries) and Aaliyah Edwards (Washington Mystics). We’ll touch on three of these four as we go on, so let’s focus on Bridget Carleton for now.
From small town Chatham, Ontario to the biggest stage in Women’s Basketball — the WNBA Finals. The Lynx may have lost in a controversial series-deciding Game 5 against the New York Liberty last fall, but their run and dominance cannot be denied. Carleton was a crucial part of that run — before it even started.
She was the one to make a clutch late-game three-pointer to secure the Lynx’s playoff position ahead of the Connecticut Sun in the regular season. Anytime the Lynx needed a big shot in the playoffs, Carleton was there.
She’ll return to the Lynx this summer to try and get back to the Finals for the second year in a row.
Unrivaled 1-on-1 Dominance
Unrivaled launched this winter as an off-season WNBA development league, hosting 36 of the WNBA’s best in Miami. Aaliyah Edwards was the sole Canadian representation, and she made the country proud.
One exciting feature of Unrivaled was the league’s 1-on-1 tournament. The players were seeded and placed in a bracket with $200,000 of prize money for the winner on the line. Edwards was assigned the eighth seed in her quad of the bracket — the bottom.
That did not stop her — she opened up her tournament by winning 11-0 against WNBA legend Breanna Stewart in 1 minute and 58 seconds. She then went on a run to make it to the tournament finals, ultimately losing two games to one against Napheesa Collier.
Edwards still took $50,000 home for her effort as the tournament’s runner up.
NCAA
The kids are more than alright. This freshman class of Canadians in the NCAA may be the best group of players in one single class in our country’s history.
Conference Awards were announced last week, and they were full of Canadian talent. Toby Fournier won Freshman of the Year for the ACC, also taking home a First Team All-Conference nod. Syla Swords was named to the Big Ten’s All-Freshman Team and Second Team All-Conference. Delaney Gibb won Freshman of the Year in the Big-12. Jasmine Bascoe was named to the4 Big-East’s All-Freshman Team.
Yvonne Ejim, the senior Canadian at Gonzaga, won the West Coast Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year award for 2025. It was her second consecutive time winning both awards.
This was all before Conference Tournaments even started.
Toby Fournier and her Duke Blue Devils went on to win the ACC Tournament, upsetting both Notre Dame (and Canadian Cass Prosper) and NC State along the way. Syla Swords and the Michigan Wolverines upset Maryland to make to the Big-10 semi-final, ultimately losing to Avery Howell’s USC in a Canadian vs Canadian battle. Howell and USC went on to the Championship game, but fell to UCLA for the prize.
Swords was named to the Big-10 All-Tournament team after averaging 21 points per game in Michigan’s three tournament games. She was the first freshman in program history to make the team, and only the 4th Wolverine to ever do it.
March Madness has not even begun, and Canadians already have their fingerprints all over the NCAA.
Athletes Unlimited
Kia Nurse made her Athletes Unlimited debut in Nashville this winter, escaping the Toronto cold for some hot hoops down in Tennessee. AU is another WNBA offseason option for players to participate in, a six week tournament that is player-run.
Every week, the players draft each other onto different teams. Ultimately they are playing for individual points, with one winner being crowned at the end of the season. Players are also playing for charities of their choice.
Nurse decided to play for the Play Like a Girl Foundation, which helps girls translate the skills they learn in sports to other fields in STEM.
In her first AU season, Nurse averaged 15.8 points per game, along with 5.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists — ultimately ranking 9th in AU standings. More than that though, Nurse found joy playing in Nashville after a few harder seasons in the WNBA. Nurse suffered an ACL injury in 2021, and despite returning to play in the 2023 WNBA season, has never fully returned to her former strength — until AU. Hopefully this is only the start of a great WNBA season for Nurse.
3x3 Basketball
FIBA 3x3 is growing in popularity, and Canadians have been at the forefront of this growth. At the 2024 Olympics, Team Canada made it to the semi-finals, losing to Team USA — but had a great tournament. The team then went on to win the Women’s 3x3 AmeriCup tournament. Canadians Paige Crozon and Katherine Plouffe currently rank 2nd and 3rd respectively in FIBA 3x3 Women’s Player rankings. Both have been playing on the team since its inception in 2019.
This week, Team Canada is back as Crozon, Plouffe, Kacie Bosch and Saicha Grant-Allen take on the 3x3 Champions Cup in Thailand. In power rankings released by FIBA this week, Canada ranks first overall headed into the tournament.
“We just have to start with the reigning AmeriCup champs, who bring back the same players from that amazing triumph not long ago. They are again led by superstar Katherine Plouffe, who is out to dominate the paint while Paige Crozon ran hot at the backend of 2024.
Canada have been a force for a long time, they are women 3x3 pioneers, so we just have to put respect on their name and have them No.1.” — FIBA
WNBL
Canadians are even repping red and white down under — Laeticia Amihere headed to Perth this offseason to play for the Perth Lynx of the WNBL.
The Lynx lost in the semi-final of the WNBL playoffs, but Amihere ranked among the top players on the roster all season. She averaged 15.5 points per game for the season, shooting 49.8% from the field. She ranked second in team overall points in the season with 356 total, and second on the roster for rebounds per game with 6.3 per game.
This experience will help launch her into the WNBA season, where she will join the Golden State Valkyries for their first season.
Euro-League
With such limited roster spots in the WNBA, European basketball is a huge landing spot for North American Basketball talent. Many of Team Canada’s 5x5 players are showing out in Europe.
Kayla Alexander and Shay Colley won a Coupe de France (French Championship) together with Tango Bourges Basket, and Alexander won the tournament’s MVP award. This year, Alexander is playing for Valencia in Spain, while Colley is still in Bourges.
Sami Hill also plays in Spain for Araski, while Bridget Carleton is currently in Turkey playing for CBK Mersin.
Safe to say Canadian Women are at the forefront of the Women’s Basketball Boom. They represent at every level, and the talent pool coming up now is the best the country has ever seen.
From high school (in both Canada and the US), to the NCAA, and then professional leagues all over the world — Canadian women are hooping.
Let’s continue to give these incredible women the recognition they deserve — not just during March but all year.