Canada Basketball finds a gold-medal-winning head coach to help the national women's team over its last hurdle
It was a quick conversation but in just a few minutes Nell Fortner hit all the high points of recent Canadian women's basketball.
She coached the United States at the turn of the millennium and the first name she dropped in a telephone conversation was Bev Smith, the legendary Canadian player and coach, and that her teams 'played hard, they were physical … it was going to be a really tough ball game when you played them.'
Fortner worked as a broadcaster during an iconic college coaching hiatus as another era developed. 'I told Bridget (Carleton), 'I remember watching you as a sophomore at Iowa State,' I called their game against Oklahoma State. I was at that point like, 'Oh my, gosh, this kid is really, really good.' ' A few minutes later, a few more names. ' Kia Nurse, Aaliyah Edwards, both of them at UConn … Kayla Alexander, I remember her at Syracuse.'
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Fortner coached last winter at Georgia Tech and saw Duke's Toby Fournier up close, and Yvonne Ejim at Gonzaga. She tried to recruit Syla Swords as New York high schooler.
Fortner's passport says the U.S. but her knowledge of women's basketball on the continent pays no attention to borders. And as the newest head coach of Canada Basketball's senior women's team, the 66-year-old coaching icon is anxious to help the country over a final international hurdle.
Basketball
Q&A: Canada Basketball's Steve Baur says women's team will build off Paris failure
Expectations for Canada's women's basketball team were high heading into 2024.
'Canada's had great potential and I hope I can get it to the next level on the international level,' she said in an interview with The Star on Monday afternoon.
Fortner was hired to fill a vacancy created when Victor Lapeña left the program last winter. Her staff is still be finalized but sources said long-time national stalwart Carly Clarke is expected to be on the bench.
Fortner brings an impeccable resumé to a job that starts with the AmeriCup tournament in June in Chile, the beginning of the 2026 World Cup qualification process and a trip, hopefully, to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The Mississippi native coached the American team to gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 1998 World Cup, amassing a 101-14 record. She was an NCAA coach of the year three times in three major conferences. She was the first head coach of the WNBA's Indiana Fever. And she has worked for years as a part-time broadcaster with ESPN.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Fortner left Georgia Tech earlier this year, tired of the NIL-portal transfer world of college basketball, and she jumped at the chance to coach Canada when women's program general manager Steve Baur reached out a couple of months ago.
'I was retiring from college coaching but I wasn't just retiring,' she said. 'I didn't know what the possibilities were out there … but I knew I didn't want to be a college coach any more.
'The amount of talent that's coming out of Canada now, it's really impressive … There's so much potential there and it's exciting, I like a challenge.'
Basketball
Canada Basketball tabs former Olympian Gordie Herbert to coach men's national team
The job had been vacant since Brooklyn Nets coach Jordi Fernandez stepped down after the 2024
Fortner has been presented with a group of 25 women who Canada Basketball says is committed through the Los Angeles Games. It includes Carleton, Nurse, Alexander, Edwards and Ejim. There are Olympians like Sami Hill, Shaw Colley and Swords, as well.
The first challenge is the 10-team AmeriCup. The top six teams earn automatic spots in the final World Cup qualification tournaments in March 2026, and the AmeriCup gold medallist gets a guaranteed spot at the 2026 World Cup in Germany.
Canada hasn't won a World Cup medal since a bronze in 1986 and has never won an Olympic medal, losing in the quarterfinals in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.
'That's a big step, it's a big hurdle,' Fortner said. 'We've got to figure that out and attack that, and that's what are goals are.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Vancouver Sun
33 minutes ago
- Vancouver Sun
PWHL Vancouver expansion team lands star power, signing Sarah Nurse
The PWHL is giving the new Vancouver team that will play out of the Pacific Coliseum next fall every opportunity to be instantly competitive and compelling for fans. Vancouver general manager Cara Gardner Morey announced Thursday morning that she has inked a one-year deal with Sarah Nurse, 30, who played this past season with the Toronto Sceptres, as part of this five-day window granted to the new Vancouver and Seattle clubs to sign free agents and players left off the six existing teams' protected lists. The existing squads were only permitted to protect three players initially. Vancouver and Seattle will take part in an expansion draft on Monday , alternating picking players until they both have 12-women rosters. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Nurse is one of the game's best spokeswomen, and one of its more recognizable players. She will resonate with mainstream sports fans. The forward from Burlington, Ont., was the first woman to appear on the cover of an EA Sports NHL title when she shared the front of NHL 23 alongside Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras. Nurse is also a cousin of Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse, who is currently playing in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers. Sarah Nurse has been battling injuries of late, but her player resume is top notch. She has a gold and a silver medal at the Olympics with Team Canada, along with three world championship gold medals. 'Sarah is one of the sport's biggest stars, both on and off the ice, and she will play a significant role in growing professional women's hockey in Vancouver,' Gardner Morey was quoted as saying in a media release. 'Her outstanding on-ice abilities will help establish our foundation at forward, and her unwavering commitment to building an inclusive hockey community makes her a fan favourite everywhere she goes.' PWHL Vancouver's Sarah Nurse is a star. There's no other way to put it. Off the ice, she's the most marketable player in the game. On the ice, she's just as impactful, when she's healthy. That's a key distinction. Nurse sustained injuries both seasons that impacted her play come… Nurse said in the release: 'I am so honoured to be joining PWHL Vancouver, finally bringing professional women's hockey to the West Coast. I already got a taste of the passion last year during the Takeover Tour and can't wait to experience that daily. The vision for this organization could not be more exciting, and I am so humbled by Cara's confidence in me as a player and as a person. The love and support I've felt already has meant so much to me. Puck drop can't come soon enough.' The Takeover Tour featured nine neutral-site regular season games, and the Jan. 8 game at Rogers Arena between the Sceptres and the Montreal Victoire drew an announced crowd of 19,038, which was the fourth-highest single-game attendance in league history. Vancouver fans can place a deposit to secure priority access to season tickets for the inaugural season once ticket packages are released. Fans can subscribe to the Vancouver newsletter for updates as well. Vancouver and Nursey coming together for a joint slay 💅 Gardner Morey confirmed the signings Wednesday of Minnesota Frost defenders Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson, as well as Ottawa Charge goalie Emerance Maschmeyer. Jaques, 24, and Thompson, 27, are among the three finalists for the league's defender of the year award. Maschmeyer, 30, was the starter for Ottawa for its first two years and the first PWHL goalie to reach 1,000 career saves. The window for Vancouver and Seattle to sign players was a product of offering players who thought they might be picked in the expansion draft an opportunity to decide on their landing spot ahead of time. Expansion drafts in sports have historically been about castoffs and hand-me-downs. The PWHL benefits from the fact that it owns all the teams — L.A. Dodgers principal owner Mark Walter heads up the league — and credit the PWHL braintrust for realizing that if they were going to continue growth they needed Vancouver and Seattle to have a chance to be contenders as soon as possible. Seattle's first signing was American star winger Hilary Knight, 35, who is up for the league's most valuable player award after finishing tied for the scoring title with the Boston Fleet. Come the fall, the PWHL becomes the first full-time tenant at the Pacific Coliseum since the Vancouver Giants departed after the 2015-16 WHL season for their current digs at the Langley Events Centre. They moved out because they couldn't make the finances work at the Coliseum, and their announced attendance average that last regular season there was 5,169. According to the PWHL, announced attendance across the league jumped 27 per cent this season from their inaugural campaign, going from 5,689 to 7,230. Granted, the WHL teams were playing a 36-game home schedule in the Giants' days in the Coliseum, and the PWHL teams will probably be half that. They also have single operator in charge of all the teams, so all the money goes into one pot rather than each team being on their own in the WHL. The Giants comparison still suggest things won't be simple. The PWHL will draw well the first few games at home in Vancouver. What happens after the honeymoon period is the question, but the expansion regulations are helping create a Vancouver roster that will have stories that should connect with fans. Maschmeyer is another good example of that. The Bruderheim, Alta., product is the little sister of Bronson Maschmeyer, a defenceman who started his WHL career at the Coliseum with the Giants before playing his final three years in the league with the rival Kamloops Blazers. 'Joining Vancouver is an incredible opportunity, and I'm thrilled to be a part of such an exciting chapter of the league's expansion,' Maschmeyer was quoted as saying in a media release. 'Vancouver has proven to be a vibrant hockey city and I'm thrilled to play in front of such passionate fans. I'm aligned with Cara's vision and values and honoured to have the opportunity to help build this organization's culture from the ground up.' There has been no announcement on next year's schedule, but each of the teams played a 30-game regular season this year, and opening night was Nov. 30. sewen@
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Harris looks to give Sea Bears massive offensive boost
One of the top scorers in CEBL history is joining the Winnipeg Sea Bears. The club announced Thursday that Jalen Harris, a two-time All-CEBL guard and former Toronto Raptor, has officially signed with the Sea Bears and is expected to join them on the road and play in Friday night's game against the Brampton Honey Badgers (0-5). It's a massive boost to a Winnipeg side that has lost four straight games by double digits and fallen to 1-4 on the season. Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Jalen Harris made his CEBL debut with the Scarborough Shooting Stars in 2022. 'We tried to build a team that would play a little bit better team basketball, and we got a great group of guys… (But) we got off to a slow start,' said Sea Bears head coach and general manager Mike Taylor at the Sport for Life Centre on Thursday. 'We felt we needed a little bit of offensive production and offensive playmaking in the back court. So, from our standpoint, we're really excited to add Jalen. We think he'll bring a lot to the team.' The six-foot-five Dallas, Tex., product averaged 24.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 11 games with the Saskatchewan Rattlers last summer. In 2022, he made his CEBL debut with the Scarborough Shooting Stars and led the team to the championship final. Harris, 26, was most recently in China with the Nanjing Monkey Kings where he averaged 12.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and two assists in 32 games. He was drafted in the second round, 59th overall, by the Raptors in 2020, and appeared in 13 games as a rookie, highlighted by a career-high 31-point performance against the Dallas Mavericks on May 14, 2021. On July 1, 2021, the NBA dealt Harris a one-year suspension after he tested positive for a prohibited substance and he hasn't played in the league since. The Sea Bears have had some accomplished scorers in the past in Teddy Allen and Justin Wright-Foreman, but Taylor believes Harris is a different type of player than those two. Harris set the CEBL's scoring record last year with a 45-point performance against Brampton. 'I think Jalen can play with the ball or without the ball efficiently. I think Jalen is a willing passer, and he's a guy we can use in different situations to play as a point guard, at the point of attack, controlling the tempo, and force defences to play defensive coverage because of his ability to shoot,' said Taylor. 'And I think he's also a guy we can move off the ball, so I think he's got a chance to connect well with every type of teammate we have.' Also joining the Sea Bears this weekend is star Canadian centre Simi Shittu who was finishing up his season in the Greek Basketball League. Shittu isn't expected to play in Brampton on Friday or in Scarborough on Saturday. Tony Gutierrez / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Jalen Harris (front) was drafted in the second round, 59th overall, by the Toronto Raptors in 2020. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Once Harris and Shittu start to gel with their teammates, this Sea Bears team should look a whole lot different than the one that underwhelmed in the first five games. Shooting has been the biggest issue, as they're dead last in in both field goal (36.7) and three-point percentage (25.7). 'The goal stays the same. We've always been aiming to play our best basketball at the championship weekend and so adding those two talents definitely help our odds and we're happy about it,' said veteran Canadian guard Alex Campbell. 'I think them joining us on the road actually helps us build camaraderie. Between the games, travelling, being at the airport, stuff like that, those types of things do go a long way so I think camaraderie and chemistry will happen quickly.' The Sea Bears will return to downtown Winnipeg on June 11 to square off against the Montreal Alliance. Taylor AllenReporter Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor. Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
Controversial Olympic boxing champ Imane Khelif skips event after mandatory sex testing introduced
Olympic champion Imane Khelif is skipping the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands less than a week after World Boxing announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes. Article content The Algerian boxer, who won gold at the Paris Games last summer amid scrutiny over her eligibility, did not register in time for the event before applications closed on Thursday. Article content Article content 'The decision of Imane's exclusion is not ours. We regret it,' tournament media director Dirk Renders told The Associated Press. Article content Khelif had intended to return to international competition at the tournament in Hotel Eindhoven before World Boxing announced its new sex testing policy last Friday. Article content Eindhoven mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem criticized World Boxing's decision. Article content 'As far as we are concerned, all athletes are welcome in Eindhoven. Excluding athletes based on controversial 'gender tests' certainly does not fit in with that,' Dijsselbloem wrote in a letter addressed to the Dutch Boxing Federation and International Boxing Federation. 'We are expressing our disapproval of this decision today and are calling on the organization to admit Imane Khelif after all.' Article content Khelif won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics last summer amid international scrutiny on her and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, another gold medal winner. The previous governing body for Olympic boxing, the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association, had disqualified both fighters from its 2023 world championships after claiming they failed unspecified eligibility tests. Article content Article content But the IBA was banished for decades of misdeeds and controversy. The IOC ran the past two Olympic boxing tournaments in its place and it applied the sex eligibility rules used in previous Olympics. Khelif and Lin were eligible to compete under those standards. Article content World Boxing has since been provisionally approved as the boxing organizer at the 2028 Los Angeles Games and has faced pressure from boxers and their federations to create sex eligibility standards. Article content
