BC Breakers competed at the CWBL Women’s National Championship held in Burlington, ON last weekend (April 21-23). Finishing 2nd in the round robin, Breakers faced Saskatchewan in a cross-over game and secured a spot in a semi-final by beating them 59-53. Breakers struggled against Calgary Rollers, who won the championship title this year, in the semi-final and lost to them 47-65. Sunday morning Breakers faced Quebec in the bronze medal game. Small but fast Quebec team had a strong game against Breakers in a round robin on Friday by beating Breakers 53-67. Breakers prepared to combat Quebec’s press game this time, had a good start in the bronze medal game holding a lead through most of the game. Unfortunately, Quebec managed to come back in the final quarter and nailed a couple of important shots while Breakers struggle to sink in some shots in last few minutes of the game. Although well fought, Breakers missed the bronze medal losing to Quebec by 4 points with the final score of 52-56.
Breakers Head Coach Makiko Harada commended her athletes saying “Our athletes played really well through the weekend. We could see the team coming together as the tournament progressed. In the bronze medal game, everyone was on the same page, pushed really hard and followed the game plan throughout 40 minutes which gave us a really good shot against last year’s champions. It is always hard to lose and especially this one but I cannot proud of my athletes more.”
Final standings were:
1st – Calgary Rollers
2nd – Edmonton Inferno
3rd – Quebec
4th – BC Breakers
5th – Saskatchewan
6th – Ontario
BC’s own Kady Dandeneau was selected for one of the All-Stars.
You can find all the game resulsts at the Wheelchair Basketball Canada website.
The weekend was a great celebration of women’s wheelchair basketball and showcased tremendous development among female athletes and programs through Canada in recent years.
BCWBS is very excited to host the women’s nationals next year. If you are intersted in getting involved in hosting with us or playing the sport, please contact BCWBS.
