Courtesy of UVM Athletic Communications
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Former University of Vermont women's basketball standout Courtnay Pilypaitis '10 (Ottawa, Ontario) has been named to the Canadian National Team.
Pilypaitis went through a month long training camp with Team Canada in
Vancouver, British Columbia during July and another camp in Waterloo,
Ontario last week before being one of 12 players selected to the team.
Pilypaitis will be playing for Canada's Senior National Team for the
first time in her career, but has been represented Canada in three other
international tournaments since 2007.
In 2007 was a member of two Canadian teams that competed at the FIBA
U-19 World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia and the FIBA U-21 World
Championships in Moscow, Russia. She served as a tri-captain of the
U-19 team. In 2009, she represented Canada at the World University
Games in Belgrade, Serbia.
Team Canada left for Europe on Monday for its final preparations leading
up to the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women taking place September
23 – October 3 in the Czech Republic.
The team's first stop is France, September 9-11, where it will compete
in a series of national team exhibition games against France, Japan and
Belarus. Team Canada then heads to Athens, Greece September 18-19 for a
pair of exhibition games against the Greek National Team for a final
tune-up.
Earlier this week, Pilypaitis, a 6-1 guard, signed a professional contract with VICI Kaunas in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Pilypaitis, who is of Lithuanian descent, will begin playing for the club in October and the season will run through May.
VICI Kaunas went 25-3 last season and tied for first place in the
Lithuanian league, LMKL. The club has won both the regular season and
LMKL tournament championships six straight years.
The team also competes in the Euroleague, the top league in Europe, and advanced to the semifinals in 2005 and 2006.
Pilypaitis, a four-time America East All-Conference player, led Vermont
to back-to-back league titles with a win over top-seeded and No. 21
ranked Hartford in the 2010 America East Championship game. She was
named the Most Outstanding Player of the America East Tournament for the
second straight year after averaging 15 points, 13 rebounds and five
assists in three games.
The Catamounts also earned their second straight appearance in the NCAA
Tournament and posted the program's first-ever NCAA victory with an
upset win over No. 7 Wisconsin.
During the 2009-10 season, Pilypaitis set four new all-time marks at
Vermont and became the all-time leader in three-point field goals in
America East history. She also became the first player in league history
to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists and was the only
player in Division I to record over 1,900 points, 800 rebounds and 600
assists last season.
Pilypaitis, who was named the America East Rookie of the Year as a
freshman and the America East Player of the Year as a sophomore, closed
out her career ranked among the all-time leaders at Vermont in nine
different categories, including third in scoring with over 1,993 points.
During Pilypaitis' career the Catamounts won 91 games, including three
straight 20-win seasons, and a record of 27-7, the third most wins in
school history, in 2009-10.
Canadian fans can catch Team Canada’s World Championship action on TSN2.