Canada's women's basketball team announces roster for 2014 World Championship

Canada's senior women's basketball has released its 12-player roster that will compete at the upcoming FIBA World Championship. The tournament begins September 27 in Turkey and Canada has put together a team with a good mix of youth and experience.

"After a fantastic summer of preparation, we are excited to have selected our team that will represent Canada at Worlds," head coach Lisa Thomaidis said in a press release. “These women have shown tremendous dedication and commitment to our program, and we are excited to go and showcase what we’ve been working towards. We have a great mix of youth and experience on this team.  We have several players who have experience playing at a World Championship and Olympic Games, and others who will be experiencing this level of competition for the first time in their careers.  We are looking forward to a fantastic tournament.”

The team is without Natalie Achonwa as she continues to recover from the ACL tear she suffered in March that ended her accomplished college career at Notre Dame. Despite her injury she was still selected ninth overall in the 2014 WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever and hopes to be ready for the 2015 season, as well as next summer's 2015 FIBA Americas Championship.

Kayla Alexander, the only Canadian that played in the WNBA last season, was a late addition to training camp after finishing her second season with the San Antonio Stars but did not ultimately crack the final roster.

Before setting out for Turkey, Canada takes on Team USA in an exhibition game on Monday, September 15. They also have two scheduled exhibition games in Spain against Cuba and Spain on September 19 and 20.