Kelowna’s Taya Hanson has been named to Canada Basketball’s U18 women’s national team competing at the FIBA Americas Championship in Mexico City Aug. 1-7.
The Kelowna Secondary School graduate, who will begin play at Arizona State University this fall, is among 12 players selected to the team from across the country and the only B.C. player on the squad.
Photo Credit: Basketball CanadaTaya Hanson of Kelowna has been selected to a national age-group team for a third time.For Hanson, 18, the most valuable player at the B.C. School Sports senior AAA girls championship in March, leading the KSS Owls to its first provincial high school title, it’s a return to the national team after a one-year hiatus.
In 2016 she played for Canada at the FIBA world championships and a year earlier competed for her country at the FIBA Americas. Last year, Hanson was an alternate for the U19 national team and was one spot away from going to Italy and the World Cup tournament. The U19s earned a bronze medal.
Photo Credit: Basketball BCHanson was named the MVP while leading the KSS Owls to a provincial high school title in 2018.Head coach of the U18s is Claire Meadows, the former head coach of the UBC Okanagan Heat.
Prior to departing for Mexico City, the U18 team will play an exhibition game on Friday night prior to the Nike Crown League finals in Toronto.
Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNowFollowing the FIBA tournament in Mexico City, Hanson will move on to Arizona State for her freshman year.Canada will open the FIBA championship tournament with a game against Columbia on Aug. 1. Salvador will the opponent on Aug. 2 while Canada meets Mexico on Aug. 3.
The quarter-finals are set for Aug. 5 while the semis go Aug. 6 and the championship game on Aug. 7.
Canada is ranked fourth in the U18 world ranking.
