Local basketball players win Summer Games gold

By Lethbridge Herald on August 18, 2022.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

For Raymond High School’s  Delaney Gibb and Abby Graves and Magrath High School’s Grace Hansen, the 2022 Canada Summer Games in Niagara will be an unforgettable experience as the trio won gold as a part of Team Alberta’s female basketball team.

Team Alberta defeated Team Saskatchewan 71-60 in the gold medal game on Aug. 13.

“It was great,” said Gibb.

“But I’ve already played with lots of girls on Team Alberta. So we had a pretty cool bond together. So to be able to win and represent Alberta and just show all the other provinces how we can play and how there is players from Alberta, it was just really great and pretty cool.”

Gibb felt the team success came from a special bond of being almost  like a family and the perseverance on the court.

“We persevered throughout the entire game —like no matter when things were close and … we focused on defence which would led to our offence — and yeah we were just a super hardworking team and just really good friends within it as well.”

This was Gibb’s second time playing for Alberta Basketball.

“I was looking forward to this team and this year’s for a really long time,” she said.

“So to be able to finally play and then obviously win and then like perform and show what we do was really cool.”

Gibb’s Summer Games experience is one that she will add to other experiences that she has  had including ones such as  with her 2022 provincials win with Raymond High School, her trip to the BioSteel Canadian Game in the spring and more recently her participation with the fourth place Team Canada at the U17 FIFA World Cup in Hungary prior to the Canada Summer Games.

“I think because I’m trying to be the best basketball player that I can” she said, on the opportunities.

“And so all of these events are helping me learn different things and just helping be grow my game.”

Graves agreed that this experience is a taste of things to come when she starts with the University of Lethbridge basketball team this year.

“I think it was a good transition point from high school to university and showed me how much more work that needs to be done for a successful career at the U-Sports level,” said Graves.

“And yeah playing with all those girls really showed how much more I want it.”

Graves and Gibb played a lot of minutes together and was a bonus on the court in unfamiliar surroundings.

“We know how each other play and how each other function; so I think that was super beneficial to have someone like that on the team,” she said.

It meant a lot to her to represent small town southern Alberta.

“I think the south usually doesn’t get as much representation and big stuff like this,” she said.

“So for three of us to show up and be a key part of a team for the championship, like it was really cool for us.”

Despite not getting playing time, Hansen thought winning the gold medal was really cool.

“Like I again, I had a really great team and they worked so hard and they were so nice and fun,” she said.

“And just to be able to spend these last couple months together and  then actually win — it’s just  a really cool experience because we had really good team chemistry and so that makes the win 100 times better.”