Photo Credit: Steve McLaughlin
World University Games Official Website
Team Canada World University Games Website

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario), a member of the University of Vermont women's basketball team, has been named to the Canadian Women's Basketball Team that will compete at the 2009 World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1-12. Pilypaitis is one of 11 student-athletes on the team that is made of up both Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) players and NCAA players who hail from Canada.

Pilypaitis led Vermont to the 2009 America East Championship as the Catamounts defeated No. 2 Hartford and No. 1 Boston University to earn their fifth title in the program's history and first in nine years.

The 2006-07 America East Rookie of the Year and the 2007-08 America East Player of the Year, Pilypaitis was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2009 America East Tournament. She averaged 20 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and shot 91.3 percent from the foul line (21-for-23) in the tournament. Pilypaitis posted back-to-back double-doubles in the final two games, scoring 23 points and grabbing 11 rebounds versus the Hawks and followed that with 22 points and 11 rebounds in the championship game versus Boston U.

Vermont earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with its America East Championship victory and drew No. 1 Connecticut in the first round. The Catamounts fell to the eventual national champions in Storrs, Conn.

This is the third Canadian team Pilypaitis has been selected to during her career at UVM. In the summer of 2007, she was named to the Canadian U21 National Team the competed in the 2007 U21 FIBA World Championships in Moscow, Russia. That same summer she also played with the U19 Canadian National Team at the 2007 U19 FIBA World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia and served as a tri-captain of that team. The Canadians open the 2009 World University Games on Canada Day (July 1) with a date against Slovakia, followed by contests with Japan and Australia on July 2 and 3. En route to a gold-medal performance in Bangkok in 2007, the Aussies spoiled Canada’s medal hopes with a 66-53 win in the first playoff game after the Canadians had cruised through the preliminary round with a perfect 3-0 record.

The semifinals are slated for July 9, while the bronze and gold medal games will be played on July 11.

The seventh-place finish in 2007 continued a recent trend that has seen Canada steadily improve its final placing over the past three World University Game appearances from 13th in 2003 and 11th in 2005.

Canada’s best World University Games finishes in women’s basketball came in 1991 (Sheffield, England) and 1979 (Mexico City), where the team captured bronze medals.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER
Pos  Name                  University           Hometown
G    Robyn Buna            Simon Fraser         Kelowna, B.C.
G    Carolann Cloutier     Dawson College       St-Mathieu-de-Beloeil,
Que.
G    Kelsey Hodgson        Cape Breton          Fredericton, N.B.
G    Vanessa Kabongo       Delaware             Toronto, Ont.
G    Courtnay Pilypaitis   Vermont              Ottawa, Ont.
G    Chanelle St-Amour     Laval                Montreal, Que.
F    Zara Huntley          British Columbia     Halifax, N.S.
C    Kayla Dykstra         Victoria             Calgary, Alta.
C    Marie-Michelle Genois Laval                Quebec City, Que.
C    Laurelle Weigl        Simon Fraser         Stony Plain, Alta.


STAFF
Team leader: Moriah Trowell, Ottawa
Co-head coach: Deb Huband, UBC
Co-head coach: Linda Marquis, Laval
Assistant coach: Fabian McKenzie, Cape Breton
Medical: Nathan King

TEAM CANADA SCHEDULE (all times ET)
July 1   6:30 a.m.    Preliminary Group B: Canada vs. Slovakia
July 2   6:30 a.m.    Preliminary Group B: Canada vs. Japan
July 3   6:30 a.m.    Preliminary Group B: Canada vs. Australia
July 5   TBD          2nd Phase
July 6   TBD          2nd Phase
July 7   TBD          2nd Phase
July 9   TBD          Semifinals
July 11  TBD          Gold/Bronze medal games

CANADA’S RESULTS IN W BBALL AT SUMMER UNIVERSIADE (last 3
appearances):
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): 7th / 16 teams
2005 (Izmir, Turkey): 11th / 20
2003 (Daegu, South Korea): 13th / 17

CANADA’S BEST RESULTS IN WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES:
1991 (Sheffield, England): bronze
1979 (Mexico City, Mexico): bronze

About the Summer Universiade
The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years, and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors between the ages of 17 and 28 in the year of the Games who are full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. The CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, and 32 World University Championships.