Canada Basketball – TORONTO, ON (March 22, 2019) – The 2019 NCAA women’s basketball tournament opens today with 23 Canadians vying for a shot at the title.

Click here for a complete list of Canadian players and schedule of games.

Big 12 Player of the Year Bridget Carleton will lead the Cyclones into the tournament coming off a historic season at Iowa State.  Carleton, who hails from Chatham, Ont., became the first Cyclone in program history to earn the honour after averaging a Big 12 leading-24.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.2 blocks during the regular season.  Carleton and the Cyclones enter the tournament as a No. 3 seed and will open the tournament at home in Ames on Saturday against No. 14 New Mexico State.

Shay Colley and the Michigan State Spartans are still chasing that elusive first title in program history and are looking to make their way back to the National Championship game for the first time since 2005. The Brampton, Ont. native secured first-team All-B1G honours by the coaches for the first time in her career after averaging 14.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.  Colley, along with Carleton, represented Canada last summer at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018.

Aislinn Konig was a key factor in the Wolfpack’s success this season and the NC State faithful surely hope they can keep it going on Saturday.  Starting all 31 games for NC State, the Surrey, BC native averaged 11 points and 3.8 assists per game.  After finishing the year with a 26-5 record, Konig and the Wolfpack are seeded No. 3 in the Greensboro region where they will face No. 14 Maine in the First Round.

Stanford sophomore Alyssa Jerome will look to help the Cardinal capture their first NCAA title since 1992 when they take the court on Saturday.  Appearing in every game this season for Stanford, Jerome averaged 3.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 14 minutes of action.  Stanford is one of four teams to feature multiple Canadians as Barrie, Ont. native Mikaela Brewer is also a member of the Cardinal.

If there is a team that Canadian hoops fans want to rally around this year, it definitely would be the Buffalo Bulls.  Buffalo features five Canadians as Adebola Adeyeye, Hanna Hall, Oceane Kounkou, Ayoleka Sodade and Keowa Walters have the Bulls back in the tournament after capturing their second Mid American Conference title in school history last weekend.

12 of the 23 players in this year’s tournament have represented Canada internationally.  Hailey Brown, Hanna Hall, Alyssa Jerome and Aislinn Konig were all members of Canada’s historic bronze medal at the 2017 FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup.

Mackenzie Trpcic (UC Davis) and Anja Marinkovic (Florida Gulf Coast) are sitting out the 2018-19 season due to NCAA transfer rules.

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Canada Basketball: Matthew Walker, 289-244-9993, mwalker@basketball.ca