Three Albertans Named to SWNT Preliminary List for Olympic Qualifying Tournament

Three Albertans were named to Canada Basketball’s Senior Women’s National Team (SWNT) preliminary list for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 tournament, which takes place Feb. 10 - 13 in Osaka, Japan.

Canada will face hosts Japan (Feb 10 - 3:00 AM MT), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Feb 11 - 11:00 PM MT) and Belarus (Feb 12 - 11:00 PM MT). The games will be broadcast live on Sportsnet.  

The preliminary list was unveiled on Feb. 2, with Delaney Gibb of Raymond and Edmonton products Katherine and Michelle Plouffe included among 19 of the country’s top basketball players. The final 12-player roster will be announced on Feb. 8.

Katherine and Michelle are veterans of the SWNT, having both played in the World Cup and Olympics. This is Delaney’s first opportunity at potentially being part of the SWNT, and represents the latest giant step for the Grade 11 student at Raymond High School.

"It's such an honour to be selected with some of the best women athletes from our country at 16 years old,” Delaney says. “I'm so thankful that Canada Basketball has believed in me and I'm excited for the future!" 

Delaney made her international debut last summer when she helped lead Canada’s team to a silver medal at the FIBA U16 Americas Women’s Championship 2021 in Mexico. The shooting guard had a spectacular performance at the championship, ranking top 8 in nearly every statistical category: 16.3 points per game (3rd), 7.4 rebounds per game (7th), 2.8 assists per game (8th), 2.6 steals per game (6th), 1.4 blocks per game (5th), 48.5% field goal percentage (6th), and 37.9% three-point percentage (5th).

In November, Delaney was part of an exclusive group of just 15 athletes who attended Canada Basketball’s Women’s National Team program camp in Toronto.

Katherine played for the SWNT at the 2014 World Championship and 2016 Summer Games, along with several additional tournaments. Michelle’s previous SWNT experience includes competing at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, the 2014 FIBA Women's World Championship, the 2018 FIBA Women's World Cup, among many other events.

Katherine and Michelle were teammates on Team Canada in 2015 when it won back-to-back gold medals at the Pan-Am Games in Toronto and the FIBA Women's Americas Championship at the Saville Community Sports Centre in their hometown.

Delaney, Katherine and Michelle have all been part of Alberta Basketball Association (ABA) provincial programming. Delaney played for Team Alberta Girls U15 at the 2019 Canada Basketball National Championships in Victoria, B.C., where she was named a First Team All-Star after helping Alberta to a tournament-best record of 5-1.

ABA is very proud of the Alberta athletes, and extends congratulations to Delaney, Katherine and Michelle for being named to the preliminary list.