‘It means everything'
As the 2025 FIBA Women's AmeriCup tips off tomorrow in Santiago, Chile, Winnipeg's Emily Potter and Niyah Becker are looking to help Canada secure its fourth title as part of a stacked 12-player senior women's national basketball team roster.
The most prestigious senior women's basketball tournament in the Americas will run from June 28 to July 6, with Canada set to share Group A with Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador.
The top four teams in the group advance to the quarterfinals, followed by a single-knockout format, where teams hope to be among the final six to earn a spot in the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup qualifying tournament taking place in March.
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This is Emily Potter's second AmeriCup appearance. Potter is coming off an award-winning season in the Basketball League of Serbia.
For Becker, who's been part of the Canadian national team program since she was 16, it's her first time making the senior national team, and whether it's rebounding or attacking, her goal is to do whatever the team needs to bring them gold.
'It means everything,' said Becker. 'I feel like, just since I was a little girl, I've always had the goal of playing on the national team, especially the senior team, and this being my first year, actually suiting up and dressing for the senior team was really important to me — really big. I just feel really proud to have made it.'
The 6-2 forward, who graduated from Wake Forest University in 2023, just wrapped up her second year of professional basketball overseas with IDK Euskotren of the Endesa women's league, based in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. The previous season, Becker played for ZKK Cinkarna Celje of the Slovenian Basketball League.
'In college and stuff, you're used to playing people around your age, and then you go overseas, and you could be playing with 16-year-olds that are amazing, and also 40-year-olds that are just as amazing, but with more experience,' said Becker. 'So I feel like my game definitely grew in the thinking aspect, like the IQ side and playing at an intense level all season long.'
Team Canada features five Olympians who represented the Senior Women's National Team in Paris last summer, including Kayla Alexander, Shay Colley, Yvonne Ejim, Sami Hill and Syla Swords.
Shy Day-Wilson, Delaney Gibb, Phillipina Kyei, Merissah Russell and Tara Wallack complete the roster.
'It makes a really fun competitive training environment,' said Becker on the team's talent. 'Our practices, we still have lots of fun, but it's just everyone is so good, so smart, it kind of just tests you, and it makes you bring your best self every day.'
Becker met Potter two summers ago at her first senior camp, and the pair have remained close ever since, training together at home during the summers and staying in touch while overseas.
'I think, in general, any of the players that are from the prairies — Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba — we just take that extra pride in representing our province, because there's not a lot of us,' said Potter. 'This is the first time in I don't know how many years, I have no idea if there's ever been two Manitoba players on the team at the same time, it's been decades for sure, at least.'
Potter, a 6-4 forward and University of Utah graduate, is coming off a historic year in Serbia with the Crvena Zvezda Basketball Club, going undefeated 27-0 en route to claiming the league championship and national cup title.
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This is Niyah Becker's first time making the senior national team.
'I think I was challenged in different ways that I hadn't experienced before,' said Potter, who was named finals MVP and Player of the Year. 'This is my seventh year playing professionally, so I really feel like I'm stepping more into a leadership role within a team, even if I'm overseas.'
This is Potter's second AmeriCup appearance, her first being in 2023 when Canada finished third.
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She says there's definitely new energy this time around with a new coaching staff leading the team, including Canada's head coach Nell Fortner, the winningest coach in USA Basketball women's history, who is making her senior women's national team debut.
'Our team is really good, and we know how to play well with each other,' said Becker. 'We know what to look for, and it doesn't matter who's on the court, we're all going to play to the Canadian standard. And we've been instilled by our coaches this training camp that the standard is gold.'
Canada is currently ranked 7th in the FIBA World Rankings (women), with AmeriCup golds in 1995, 2015 and 2017, and a consistent track record of finishing in the top four at every tournament since 2009.
'I don't take any of these opportunities for granted,' said Potter. 'Anytime I'm in this group, it's just my favourite basketball environment to be in. For me, there is no higher level than this.'
zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca
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