Basketball: Ex-Clan star Gabriele clutch as Canada clinches worlds berth

It's only semi-CIS, but attention should be paid to Canada's women's basketball team beating Cuba 59-49 in overtime on Sunday to reach the 2010 FIBA World Championship For Women.

Teresa Gabriele, who played for Simon Fraser before it joined CIS basketball (and before it left, you might say), had the double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds in 42 minutes, all team highs. Kaela Chapdelaine, the older sister of Queen's quarterback Justin Chapdelaine (and daughter of former Laval football coach Jacques Chapdelaine) also hit a back-breaking three-pointer in the overtime.

Anyway, it's great for Canada Basketball both senior teams will play in the worlds in 2010. Oh, and TSN.ca commenters who say stuff such as "Just wait til Canada has to play the USA" and refer to the players as "chicks" can go jump in a lake.

Related:
Canada downs Cuba in OT to qualify for world championships (The Canadian Press)
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2 comments:

  1. Congratulations to our Canadian women's team, albeit belatedly.
    Unfortunately, the women's team is another example of how female athletes in Canada sometimes get short shrift from the media.
    There was no live television coverage of their games, unlike the men's team, and print media coverage was usually limited to one or two paragraphs, if that.
    So their efforts have gone largely unnoticed by the general public, I'm afraid.
    It's too bad one of our players wasn't decked from behind by an opponent.
    That would have perked up media interest, now wouldn't it?

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  2. Well, some of us noticed. You're right, though, the team did not get much attention.

    Timing played some part. The men's team had their qualifier in August when nothing was going on, the women had theirs in September when they're up to their eyeballs in hockey coverage. At the same time, let's not kid ourselves, the dates could have been reversed and a lot of the people who call shots in sports departments -- most of whom are men and pre-date the era of gender equity in sport -- would still ignore the women's team.

    Canadian Tammy Sutton-Brown is playing in the WNBA final. You would think that would rate at least a mention on TSN.

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