Four Canadian women highlight NCAA's Final Four basketball championship

The NCAA's Final Four will feature a healthy helping of Canadian content when the women hit the hard court on Friday.

All four participating teams boast a Canadian basketball star with Laeticia Amihere, from Mississauga, Ont., on South Carolina, Ottawa's Merissah Russell on Louisville, Toronto's Alyssa Jerome with Stanford, and Aaliyah Edwards of Kingston, Ont., on Connecticut.

Beyond vying for the coveted U.S collegiate basketball championship, bragging rights are also at stake in a Canadian hoops group chat that includes good friends Amihere, Russell and Edwards.

Their normal congenial jabber has progressed to light chirping as the trio advances closer to college basketball’s ultimate prize.

“There’s a little trash talking but at the end of the day we’re all just proud of ourselves for coming to the Final Four and making it this far,” Edwards said.

The three players say they will have no problem putting the friendship on hold this weekend.

“We talk about it in the group chat,” said Amihere. “It’s 'good luck' until we play you, right? So, we want you to do the best as you can in every single game, and then when we play you it’s all business.”

The trio are all around the same age — Amihere and Russell are both 20, while Edwards is 19 — and have all played together on the Canadian national team. Edwards and Amihere both represented Canada at the Tokyo Olympics, while Russell served as an alternate.

Jerome, a fifth-year senior, has worked out and interacted with other three but is not part of their social group.

Amihere’s Gamecocks, who enter the weekend as the No. 1 ranked team in women's college basketball, will square off against Russell’s Cardinals in Friday's opening game.

Last year, South Carolina dropped a