We’re well into March Madness, with the Round of 32 getting underway in Saturday’s slate of games. Over on the women’s side, Day 2 of the first round continues, and much like in the men’s game, there are also a number of Canadian hoopers trying to claim NCAA fame for ourselves.
This includes Iowa State star and Canadian national team player Bridget Carleton, who spoke about the growth of the women’s game here in Canada before her team takes on No. 14 New Mexico State in the first round of the tournament.
Specifically, Carleton shouts out Canadian basketball star Kia Nurse, who currently plays for the WNBA’s New York Liberty and has appeared on TSN as an analyst throughout March Madness.
As Carleton says, the Canadian women’s team boasts a FIBA ranking of fifth since the last update in October, and won a gold medal as recently as 2017’s FIBA AmeriCup event. In addition to Carleton, Shay Colley of Michigan State is the other member of last year's World Cup roster to compete in this year's NCAA tournament.
While Canadians are excitedly keeping eyes on NBA-bound players such as R.J. Barrett and Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the March Madness tournament, fans of the game can also appreciate the growing product on the women’s side and especially the fast-rising Canadian representation.
On International Women’s Day, Nurse wrote an open letter for the Toronto Star encouraging young female athletes to continue pursuing their most ambitious dreams, even when those dreams may be deemed crazy.
