Pivotal summer for Canada's women's basketball team set for tipoff in Victoria

It's a rare home game for Canada's senior women's national basketball team.

The team tips off an important summer on Friday with a friendly against Japan in Victoria — its first time playing in Canada since 2019, and its first game in the provincial capital in over 20 years.

Vancouver's Aislinn Konig, one of two B.C. natives on the training camp roster along with Taya Hanson of Kelowna, said it's been seven years since she played in her home province.

"It's an honour," Konig told CBC Sports. "It's fantastic to be able to represent such an amazing basketball community, so we're just hoping to put on a good show for everybody and hopefully, maybe inspire the next Aislinn Konig, Taya Hanson that comes along and walks in our shoes after we are done."

The game will serve as a warmup ahead of the FIBA AmeriCup in early July, where the top team outside of the World Cup champion U.S. will earn a spot in the Olympic qualifying tournament for Paris 2024. The next three best teams must advance through pre-qualifying tournaments.

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Canada, ranked fifth worldwide, was drawn into a group with Mexico (No. 45), Puerto Rico (No. 10), Colombia (No. 32) and the Dominican Republic (No. 35).

The exhibition against ninth-ranked Japan, the reigning Olympic silver medallists, should provide a solid test for Canada, which is carrying some momentum of its own after a fourth-place finish at the World Cup last fall — its best result since 1986.

"Every single summer seems like it's the most important summer ever. It's kind of just how we function as the national team. There's not quite any time where we can take a step back," said Konig, who was a member of the World Cup squad. 

In Victoria, Canada will